UCSB  LIBRARY 


N 


James  G.  Blaine 


H  Sftetcb  of  bis  %itc 


WITH  A  BRIEF  RECORD  OF  THE  LIFE  OF 


JOHN    A.   LOGAN 


CHARLES  WOLCOTT   BALESTIER 

Author  of"  A  Fair  Device^'  ''A  Potent  Philter,''  etc. 


NEW   YORK: 

R.  WOKTHINGTON,    770  BROADWAY. 

1884. 


Copyright,  1884,  by 
JOHN  W.  LOVELL  COMPANY 


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PREFACE 


There  are  various  excuses  for  a  preface — an  excuse 
for  it  seems  always  necessary ;  but  perhaps  that 
which  regards  it  as  an  opportunity  for  thanking  those 
who  have  assisted  to  give  the  writer  something  to 
preface  is  among  the  most  reasonable.  I,  at  least, 
am  forced  to  think  so,  remembering  how  much  I  am 
indebted  for  this  little  volume  to  others,  and  how  lit- 
tle I  could  say  for  the  volume  itself  if,  adopting  one 
of  the  other  ideas  of  a  preface,  I  should  try  to  justify 
and  absolve  the  book  to  my  readers.  If  I  began  at 
the  head  of  my  list  of  obligations  I  should  thank  the 
newspapers,  and  as  my  professions  will  scarcely  reach 
their  ears,  let  us  say  that  I  thank  their  editors — the; 
editors  of  twenty  years  ago  chiefly.  The  editors  of 
yesterday  and  day  before  have  also  claims  upon  my 
gratitude,  and  I  can  only  hope  they  will  not  feel  that 
they  have  too  many  should  they  glance  through  this 
sketch.     The  author  also  feels  a  secret  sense  of  obli- 


IV  PREFACE. 

gatioii  to  the  compilers  of  the  indices  to  the  Congres- 
sional Record,  the  New  York  Tribune^  and  Times,  and 
it  is  so  unusual  to  thank  an  indexer  that  he  is  almost 
inclined  to  thank  them.  But  there  need  be  nothing 
dubious  about  his  thanks  to  Professor  Alexander 
Gow,  of  Fontanelle,  Iowa,  one  of  Mr.  Blaine's  class- 
mates, who  has  given  much  information  and  has  per- 
mitted the  use  of  one  of  Mr.  Blaine's  letters  ;  to  Mr. 
William  C.  Chapin,  Principal  of  the  Pennsylvania 
Institution  for  the  Instruction  of  the  Blind  ;  to  the 
President  of  Washington  and  Jefferson  College  ;  to 
Mr.  John  D.  Adams  and  Mr.  Richard  E.  Day,  of 
Syracuse,  N.  Y.  ;  to  Mr.  George  Buck,  Mr.  White- 
law  Reid  ;  Mr.  Charles  A.  Little,  of  Hagerstown,  Md. ; 
Mr.  D.  Nicholson,  of  New  York,  and  Hon.  William 
W.  Phelps. 

I  do  not  know  in  what  degree  the  subject  of  this 
sketch  approves  of  it :  the  proofs,  however,  have 
passed  through  his  hands.  But  it  is  certain  that,  as 
Mr.  Howells  has  said  in  the  preface  to  his  admirable 
"  Life  of  Hayes,"  **  whatever  is  ambitious  or  artificial 
or  unwise  in  my  book  is  doubly  my  misfortune,  for  it 
is  altogether  false  to  him." 

If  I  had  not  begun  with  certain  declarations  I 
should  like,  in  conclusion,  to  try  to  palliate  the  pages 
before  which  this  stands.  I  should  like  to  say  that 
the  material  for  this  volume  was  gathered,  and  the 
work  essentially  written,  in  the  early  morning  hours 


PREFA  CE.  V 

of  a  fortnight,  and  that  I  am  sensible  that  it  must  bear 

marks  of  its  extemporaneous  creation,  and  to  add  that 

this  Httle  essay,  being  the  first  attempt  at  a  life  of  its 

subject,  the  writer's  voyage   has   been    the  doubtful 

and  perilous  voyage  of  discovery.     All  this  it  would 

give  me  pleasure  to  say ;  but  as  I  am  committed  to  a 

view  of  the  preface  opposed  to  the  expression  of  these 

things,  I  must  instead  ask  my  critics — the  class  which 

at    last   makes    the   only   effectual    excuses    for   the 

writers  of  books  or  prefaces — to  make  these  excuses 

for  me. 

C.  W.  BALESTIER. 

The  Astor  Library,  New  York, 
21  June,  1884. 


CONTENTS 


PAGE 

L— Boyhood, i 

IL — At  College,        ........     id 

III. — Experiments, i8 

IV. — Editor  and  State  Political  Leader,      ,        .        .26 

V. — In  Congress, 31 

VI. — Speaker  of  the  House  and  Senator,     .        ,        .50 

Vll. — The  Currency,   .        ,        « 71 

VIIL— The  Tariff, .     76 

IX. — American  Shipping, 93 

X. — Civil  Service  Reform, 10 1 

XL — The  Amnesty  Bill, ,        ,  106 

XII. — American  Citizenship, 112 

XIIL — The  Chinese  Question,     .        .        ,        .        ,        .116 

XIV. — Slander, ,        .   125 

XV. — Before  the  Conventions  of  1876  and  1880,  ,        .151 

XVL— Secretary  of  State, ,        .166 

XVIL — At  Garfield's  Bedside, 187 


Vin  CONTENTS. 

PACB 

XVIIL— "Twenty  Years  of  Congress,"       .        ,        ,        .198 

XIX.— The  Nomination, 205 

XX. — Reception  of  the  Nomination,        ....  220 
XXL— The  Man, 236 


A  Brief  Record  of  John  A,  Logan, 245 

APPENDIX  A. 
The  Platform  of  the  Republican  Party — 1884,  .        .        .  263 

APPENDIX  R 
Speech  of  Mr.  Blaine  in  the  House  on  National  Finance, 
February  10,  1876, 270 

APPENDIX  a 
Hon.   William  Walter  Phelps  on  the  Charges  against 
Mr.  Blaine, 283 


JAMES  G.  BLAINE, 

A   Sketch   of  his  Life. 


I. 

BOYHOOD 


An  event  which  occurred  in  the  scanty  village  of 
West  Brownsville,  Pennsylvania,  on  the  thirty-first  day 
of  January,  1830,  has  multiplied  its  importance  in  fifty- 
four  years.  It  will  be  said  that  it  has  been  given  time  ; 
but  it  was  an  event  of  a  sort  whose  contemporaneous 
importance — always  very  large — is  at  least  as  likely  to 
dwindle  as  to  grow.  The  concern  in  it  has  also  wid- 
ened, for  at  the  time  of  its  occurrence  it  touched  but 
two  nearly,  and  was  notable  only  within  the  limits  of  a 
family  ;  and  it  has  now  an  interest  whose  boundaries 
are  those  of  a  country.  The  event  was  the  birth  of  a 
second  son  to  Mr.  and  Mrs.  Ephraim  Lyon  Blaine.  It 
has  not  a  large  sound  in  this  newspaper  phrase,  but 


2  JAMES   G.    BLAINE. 

the  son  was  James  Gillespie  Blaine,  and  that  name  has 
certainly  come  to  have  a  meaning. 

His  ancestors  had  dwelt  for  many  years  in  the  fertile 
region  where  he  was  born  ;  they  were  among  the  hardy 
band  of  pioneers  which  settled  the  rich  valley  of  the 
Cumberland,  and  their  name  and  history  are  part  of 
the  local  tradition  of  Western  Pennsylvania.  They 
founded  the  flourishing  little  town  of  Carlisle,  and  left 
as  a  memorial  of  their  substantial  lives  a  church  build- 
ing which  still  meets  the  observer's  eye  in  that  place. 
The  family  has  honorable  memories  of  the  Revolution, 
for  Colonel  Ephraim  Blaine,  the  grandfather  of  the 
subject  of  this  sketch,  was  one  of  its  heroes.  He  was 
an  officer  of  the  Pennsylvania  line,  and  during  the  last 
four  years  of  the  war  was  Commissary-General  of  the 
Northern  Department.  He  was  a  determined  and  en- 
ergetic patriot,  and  one  need  use  no  imagination  to  see 
in  him  the  source  of  some  similar  qualities  of  his 
grandson.  He  seems  to  have  been  brave  and  adequate 
to  emergencies  ;  and  at  least  the  little  American  army 
gathered  in  its  infirm  remnants  at  Valley  Forge  had 
cause  to  credit  him  with  the  latter  virtue.  In  the  des- 
perate straits  to  which  the  vacillation  and  incapacity  of 
Congress,  and  the  rigors  of  a  cruel  winter  brought 
General  Washington  and  his  army  he  was  the  stout 
supporter  of  both.  It  was  for  him  as  one  of  the  Com- 
missaries-General to  find  a  way  to  maintain  the  army, 
and  as  it  was  not  to  be  found  he  made  it — made  it  by 
liberal  use  of  his  own  purse  and  appeals  to  his  friends. 


BOYHOOD.  3 

To  the  extent  of  his  power  he  left  nothing  undone,  and 
it  is  not  altogether  a  fanciful  conjuring  up  of  terrors 
after  the  event  to  say,  as  it  is  said  by  excellent  author- 
ity, that  the  Continental  troops  might  very  well  have 
starved  without  his  help. 

Mr.  Blaine's  grandfather,  from  whom  he  is  named,  in- 
tended originally,  we  are  told,  to  enter  upon  a  profes- 
sional and  political  career  ;  ''but  a  somewhat  prolonged 
residence  in  Europe  after  he  had  completed  his  studies 
diverted  him,  as  it  has  so  many  young  Americans,  from 
following  his  first  and  better  ambition.  He  returned 
to  his  home  in  1793,  bringing  with  him,  as  special  bearer 
of  dispatches,  a  celebrated  treaty  with  a  foreign  govern- 
ment, since  become  historic." 

In  this  country  it  is  the  custom  to  look  intently  to 
the  man  himself,  with  slight  consideration  of  his  ances- 
try ;  and  certainly  if  he  is  not  his  owm  justification  he  is 
not  likely  to  be  justified  by  the  dead.  But  if  anything 
in  the  brief  American  past  is  to  be  accounted  creditable 
to  the  inheritors  of  its  glories,  it  must  be  the  efforts  that 
brought  us  nearer  independence.  Such  honor  as  that 
is  due  Colonel  Blaine,  and  by  right  of  descent,  if  you 
will,  to  his  grandson.  This  stout  old  soldier,  in  softer 
times  of  peace,  was  one  of  the  generous  and  hospitable 
race  of  Esquires  which,  so  far  north  as  Pennsylvania 
at  least,  has  vanished  as  completely  as  if  it  had  never 
been.  It  was  a  race  which  kept  its  lofty  and  virtuous 
traditions  sweet,  which  honored  women  but  was  not  less 
chivalrous  toward  men,  which  was  informed  in  all  rela- 


4  JAMES   G.    BLAINE, 

tions  by  a  knightly  and  splendid  courtesy — which,  in 
fine,  spent  very  rich  and  admirable  lives. 

Ephraim  Blaine,  the  father  of  James  G.  Blaine, 
came  into  Washington  County  about  1818,  having  the 
largest  landed  possessions  of  any  man  of  his  age  in 
AVestern  Pennsylvania,  owning  an  estate  which,  had  it 
been  properly  preserved,  would  have  amounted  to-day 
to  many  millions.  In  1825  he  deeded  to  the  Economites 
the  splendid  tract  of  land  on  which  their  town  with  all 
its  improvements  and  all  its  wealth  now  stands.  The 
price  was  $25,000  for  a  property  whose  value  to-day, 
even  if  unimproved,  would  be  a  princely  fortune.  There 
were  also  timber  tracts  on  the  Allegheny,  and  coal  tracts 
on  the  Monongahela,  at  that  day  of  no  special  value, 
which  now  represent  large  fortunes  in  the  hands  of  those 
fortunate  enough  to  hold  them.  Very  near  the  large 
tracts  owned  by  his  father  and  grandfather,  Mr.  Blaine 
is  now  the  possessor  of  one  of  the  most  valuable  coal 
properties  in  the  Monongahela  valley.  In  area  it  is 
but  a  fraction  of  that  which  he  might  have  hoped  to 
inherit  ;  but  in  value  it  is  much  greater  than  that  of 
the  whole  landed  estate  of  his  father  fifty  years  ago. 

In  all  this  the  biographer  is  conscious  of  a  reversal 
of  the  severe  and  meagre  story  upon  w^hich  those  who 
have  written  of  recent  presidential  candidates  have 
liked  to  dwell,  and  it  must  be  trusted  that  the  prosperity 
which  blessed  the  endeavors  of  the  Blaine  emigrants 
in  the  valley  of  the  Cumberland  will  not  prove  an 
offence  to  any  honest  soul.     They  were  prosperous: 


BOYHOOD,  5 

and  if  that  is  a  shameful  fact,  the  truth  must  neverthe- 
less be  told.  That  they  not  only  acquired  wealth,  but 
used  it  largely  and  toward  the  finer  goods  of  life  will 
perhaps  not  mitigate  the  wrong,  if  wrong  it  was.  If 
they  had  known  that  a  descendent  of  theirs  was  to  be- 
come a  candidate  for  an  office  to  which  one  of  the  rec- 
ommendations has  sometimes  been  early  poverty,  they 
might  have  refrained  their  hands,  and  by  using  their 
honest  labor  in  less  profitable  fields,  or  more  probably 
by  using  less  of  it,  might  have  kept  themselves  poor. 
To  those  who  may  have  a  vague  grudge  against  them, 
and  through  them  against  Mr.  Blaine,  because  they  did 
not,  it  will  be  a  satisfaction  to  know  that  at  the  time  of 
his  birth  the  family  was  far  from  richly  bestead.  Ephra- 
im  Blaine,  his  father,  was  a  man  of  the  best  education, 
who  had  travelled  rather  widely  in  Europe  and  South 
America  before  settling  in  Pennsylvania  to  the  perform- 
ance of  the  respectable  functions  of  Justice  of  the 
Peace — an  office  which  since  his  day  has  parted  with 
something  of  its  dignity.  Later  he  filled  the  more  im- 
portant position  known  in  Pennsylvania  as  Prothono- 
tary.  He  had  inherited  a  large  fortune  for  the  times, 
but  his  unstinted  hospitality,  the  support  of  an  increas- 
ing family,  and  in  a  larger  measure  his  handsome  gifts 
to  charity  crippled  him,  and  at  the  time  of  James'  birth, 
though  not  suffering  from  poverty,  he  was  at  least 
equally  removed  from  wealth.  The  conditions  of  the 
entrance  upon  the  world  of  this  second  son  will  there- 
fore be  seen  to  have  been  reasonably  presidential. 


6  JAMES   G.    BLAINE. 

On  the  side  of  his  father  he  was  of  Scotch-Irish  ex- 
traction, and  in  the  matter  of  religion,  on  the  same  side, 
a  very  solidly  descended  Presbyterian.  His  father  had 
married  a  Roman  Catholic,  Maria  Gillespie,  but  he  was 
educated  in  the  sect  of  his  father,  as  were  all  the  other 
children,  of  whom  there  were  seven  ;  there  were  besides 
James  four  sons,  and  he  had  two  sisters.  One  of  the 
calmest  and  most  judicious  utterances  of  recent  years 
upon  the  subject  of  religion — certainly  the  wisest,  in- 
spired by  the  intrusion  of  the  subject  upon  politics — is 
that  of  Mr.  Blaine's  in  a  private  letter  written  so  long 
ago  as  1876. 

"  My  ancestors  on  my  father's  side  were,  as  you 
know,  always  identified  with  the  Presbyterian  Church, 
and  they  were  prominent  and  honored  in  the  old  colony 
of  Pennsylvania.  But  I  will  never  consent  to  make  any 
public  declaration  upon  the  subject,  and  for  two  rea- 
sons :  First,  because  I  abhor  the  introduction  of  any- 
thing that  looks  like  a  religious  test  or  qualification  for 
office  in  a  republic  where  perfect  freedom  of  conscience 
is  the  birthright  of  every  citizen  ;  and,  second,  because 
my  mother  was  a  devoted  Catholic.  I  would  not  for  a 
thousand  Presidencies  speak  a  disrespectful  word  of  my 
mother's  religion,  and  no  pressure  will  draw  me  into 
any  avowal  of  hostility  or  unfriendliness  to  Catholics, 
though  I  have  never  received,  and  do  not  expect,  any 
political  support  from  them." 

James  G.  Blaine  was  born  in  a  plain  but  ample  dwell- 
ing, on  the  single  street  of  West  Brownsville,  a  hamlet 
in    Union    Township,    Washington    County,    Pa.,    not 


BOYHOOD,  7 

far  from  the  scene  of  the  campaign  which  ended  in 
Braddock's  defeat  by  the  Indians.  In  Brownsville 
proper  the  visitor  is  still  shown  the  residence  of  his 
grandfather,  Colonel  Blaine,  a  wooden  building  to  which 
a  brick  addition  has  been  made  in  later  years.  The 
mother  of  General  Sherman's  wife  happens  to  have  been 
born  at  a  little  distance  from  Colonel  Blaine's  home. 
On  the  hills  above  West  Brownsville  the  curious  in- 
quirer may  also  see  the  house  in  which  Ephraim  Blaine 
and  Miss  Gillespie  were  married,  and,  finally,  the  half- 
dozen  houses  which  quarrel  for  precedence  as  the  birth- 
place of  this  sketch's  subject.  Mr.  Blaine  has  himself 
disposed  of  this  interesting  contest  by  fixing  upon  a 
certain  dwelling  among  these  as  the  scene  of  his  earliest 
recollections.  The  building  is  of  wood,  two  stories  in 
height,  and  removed,  in  accordance  with  the  inscrutable 
Pennsylvania  custom,  as  little  as  possible  from  the  road. 
A  narrow  grass  space  decorates  the  front,  and  in  for- 
mer years  there  was  the  liberal  acreage  behind,  which 
the  German  pioneers  have  taught  the  people  of  South- 
ern Pennsylvania  must  by  no  means  be  allowed  in 
front.  This,  which  may  once  have  been  a  garden,  ran 
to  the  river  while  Ephraim  Blaine  owned  the  house, 
and  must  have  made  an  admirable  play-ground  for  his 
numerous  children.  The  house  is  a  solidly  built  struct- 
ure, and  though  its  ceilings  are  low  and  its  windows 
small,  will  remain  a  comfortable  residence  for  many 
years.  In  the  true  spirit  of  biography  it  ought  perhaps 
to  be  said  that  the  visitor  to  this  house  is  welcomed  in  a 


8  JAMES   G.    BLAINE. 

hall  of  the  spacious  Southern  sort,  from  which  a  large 
parlor  opens.  In  this  low-ceiled  room  an  enormous 
chimney  mantel  has  been  blocked  up  ;  but  it  is  a  dull 
fancy  which  cannot  set  Ephraim  Blaine  before  it  in  the 
midst  of  his  unfailing  company  of  guests — the  centre  of 
scenes  of  stately  gayety.  From  this  house  Mr.  Blaine's 
father  removed,  in  1843,  to  take  up  his  duties  as  Pro- 
thonotary,  at  Washington,  the  county  seat. 

Ephraim  Blaine  was  careful  to  give  all  his  children  an 
excellent  education,  and  when  James  had  completed  at 
home  his  early  studies  in  the  elementary  principles,  he 
was  sent  to  the  home  of  a  relative  at  Lancaster,  Ohio. 
This  relative  was  Thomas  Ewing,  then  Secretary  of  the 
Treasury.  James  Blaine  was  eleven  when  he  went  to 
Lancaster,  and  he  began  at  once  to  prepare  himself  for 
college,  studying  with  his  cousin,  Thomas  Ewing,  junior, 
now  General  Thomas  Ewing,  and  once  a  member  of 
Congress.  The  boys  studied  under  especially  advan- 
tageous conditions,  for  their  tutor  was  William  Lyons, 
brother  of  Lord  Lyons,  and  uncle  of  the  then  British 
Minister  at  Washington.  He  seems  to  have  been  an 
early  type  of  the  visiting  Englishman,  and  a  highly  for- 
tunate type  for  these  young  students,  for  after  two  years 
of  instruction  from  him,  James  Blaine,  at  the  early  age 
of  thirteen,  entered  Washington  College. 

His  father,  with  whom  he  lived  at  Washington  dur- 
ing his  college  course,  died  soon  after  its  completion, 
and  his  grave  may  be  seen  beside  that  of  his  wife  in  the 
Roman  Catholic  cemetery  at   Brownsville.     The   mon- 


BOYHOOD.  9 

ument  which  tells  their  life-story  with  simple  brevity- 
stands  in  the  shadow  of  the  little  stone  church.  The 
burial  plot  lies  alone  upon  a  hill,  and  looks  down  from 
its  secure  repose  upon  the  Monongahela  River. 


IL 
AT  COLLEGE, 

The  history  of  Washington  and  Jefferson  College, 
which  has  accomplished  its  excellent  work  in  a  quiet 
way,  and  is  little  known,  it  will  be  interesting  to  briefly 
recount.  It  had  its  origin,  as  the  colleges  of  New  Eng- 
land had,  in  the  general  respect  for  religion  and  learn- 
ing, and  the  need  of  institutions  which  might  be  not 
only  conservers  of  these  things  and  centres  for  in- 
struction in  them,  but  sources  of  supply  to  the  min- 
istry. Before  they  had  made  a  home  for  themselves 
the  people  of  Western  Pennsylvania  made  a  home  for 
those  things  of  the  spirit  which  were  dearest  to  them. 
It  is  a  rare  devotion  which  inspires  the  building  of 
churches  and  schools  in  advance  of  full  provision  for 
more  material  needs.  It  belongs  only  to  the  sturdiest 
class  of  men — men  who  have  done  much  for  the  world  ; 
and  is  worth  noting  where  we  find  it. 

It  was  mainly  with  the  purpose  of  providing  a  means 
for  the  nurture  of  a  ministry  at  home  that  the  Rev.  John 
M'Millan,  Rev.  Joseph  Smith,  and  Rev.  Thomas  Dod  es- 


AT   COLLEGE,  II 

tablished  schools  of  their  own  at  Chartiers,  Buffalo,  and 
Ten  Mile,  in  Washington  County,  about  1780.  The 
most  successful  of  these  Latin  schools,  as  they  were 
called,  was  that  under  the  charge  of  the  Rev.  John 
M'Millan,  and  when  an  academy  was  established  at 
Canonsburgh,  in  1791,  his  prosperous  school  was 
merged  in  it.  One  of  the  principals  of  this  academy, 
James  Carnahan,  was  afterward  President  of  Prince- 
ton, and  one  of  his  successors  became  the  first  president 
of  the  college  which  grew  out  of  it,  and  which  in  1802 
was  chartered  by  the  State  and  named  Jefferson.  It  is 
not  a  thing  of  which  Jefferson  boasts,  but  it  was  the 
first  institution  of  the  higher  learning  west  of  the 
Alleghanies. 

In  the  same  county  another  college  had  grown  up  by 
the  side  of  Jefferson,  called  Washington.  It  was  also 
sprung  from  an  academy  and  in  that  form  was  only 
five  years  younger  than  the  town  of  Washington  in 
which  it  stood,  having  been  chartered  in  1787.  The 
names  of  the  three  ministers  who  in  a  remote  way 
founded  Jefferson  stand  first  on  the  list  of  the  incorpo- 
rators of  Washington  Academy.  In  1805  Rev.  Matthew 
Brown  became  at  the  same  time  the  first  pastor  of  the 
Presbyterian  Church  at  Washington,  and  Principal  of 
the  Academy,  and  under  him  it  met  such  success  that 
in  1806  the  State  Legislature  gave  the  trustees  a  college 
charter.  It  had  scarcely  been  established  when  a  union 
was  proposed  with  its  young  neighbor  Jefferson,  but 
this  wise  move  was  not  fully  accomplished  until  1869. 


12  JAMES   G.    BLAINE. 

By  the  act  which  united  the  two  colleges  the  alumni  of 
both  are  accounted  as  alumni  of  the  new  College  of 
Washington  and  Jefferson,  and  Mr.  Blaine's  college  may 
therefore  be  said  to  be  Washington  and  Jefferson,  though 
in  fact  it  was  Washington. 

This  was  probably,  when  James  Blaine  entered  it  in 
1843,  as  good  a  small  college  as  he  would  have  found 
by  going  farther  from  home ;  and  it  had  the  advantage 
of  all  the  lesser  colleges  :  the  close  relation  of  pupil 
and  teacher.  The  class  with  which  young  Blaine  entered 
was  of  about  the  usual  number — thirty-three,  and  the 
brief  list  of  it  may  be  interesting.  The  present  occupa- 
tions of  its  members — /  denoting  lawyer,  m  minister,  / 
physician — are  indicated  after  each  name,  and  those  who 
have  died  are  distinguished  by  the  sinister  star. 

George  Baird,  Jr.,  /.,  Wheeling,  W.  Va. 
♦Andrew  Barr,  zw.,  Wysox,  Pa,,  1864. 

James  G.   Blaine,  LL.D.,  /.,  Editor,  Speaker  Legislature  of  Maine, 
Speaker  U.  S.  H.  R.,  Senator  and  Secretary  of  State,  Augusta,  Me. 
Robert  C.  Colmery,  m.,  Delavan,  111. 
Josiah  C.  Cooper,  /.,  Philadelphia,  Pa. 
*Thomas  Creighton. 
George  D.  Curtis,  Moundsville,  W.  Va. 
♦Cephas  Dodd, /.,  Washington,  Pa. 
Hugh  W.  Forbes,  w.,  Montezuma,  Iowa. 
Alex.  M.  Gow,  Pres.  Dixon  College,  111.,  Fontanelle,  Iowa. 
John  H.  Hampton,  /.,  Pittsburgh,  Pa. 
♦John  C.  Hervey,  Wheeling,  W.  Va. 
R.  Campbell  Holliday,  /.,  Moundsville,  W.  Va, 
John  G.  Jacob,  Editor,  Wellsburgh,  W.  Va. 
Richard  H.  Lee,  Jr.,  /.,  Lewiston,  Pa. 
Hon.  John  V.  B.  Lemoyne,  /.,  Chicago,  111.,  M.  C. 
La  Fayette  Markle,  /.,  Editor,  Philadelphia,  Pa. 


AT  COLLEGE.  1 3 

Gasper  M.  Miller,  /.,  Ottawa,  111. 

*  James  R.  Moore,  Prin.  Academy,  Morgan  town,  W.  Va.,  1864. 

♦William  S.  Moore,  /.,  Editor,  Washington,  Pa. 

M.  P.  Morrison,  /.,  Monongahela  City,  Pa. 

Robert  J.  Munce,  p.,  Washington,  Pa. 

Edward  B.  Neely,  /.,  St.  Joseph,  Mo. 

William  M.  Orr,  /.,  Orrville,  O. 

♦Thomas  W.  Porter,  /.,  W^aynesburg,  Pa. 

Samuel  Power,  Nevada. 

Hon.  Wm.  H.  H.  M.  Pusey,  /.,  Senator,  Iowa;  M.  C,  Council  Bluffs, 

Iowa. 
♦Huston  Quail,  /.,  Washington,  Pa. 
John  A.  Rankin,  Xenia,  111. 
Robert  Robb,  w.,  Brownsville,  Oregon. 
♦James  H.  Smith,  Allegheny  County,  Pa. 
John  H.  Storer,  p.,  Triadelphia,  W.  Va, 
Alex.  Wilson,  /.,  Washington,  Pa. 

One  of  his  classmates,  Alexander  M.  Gow,  of  Fonta- 
nelle,  Iowa,  writes  Mr.  Blaine's  biographer  that  while  at 
College  he  was  '*  a  boy  of  pleasing  manners  and  agree- 
able address,  quite  popular  among  the  students  and  in 
society.  He  was  a  better  scholar  than  student.  Hav- 
ing very  quick  perceptions  and  a  remarkable  memory 
he  was  able  to  catch  and  retain  easily  what  came  to 
others  by  hard  work.  In  the  literary  society  he  was  a 
politician,  and  it  was  there,  I  think,  that  he  received  a 
good  deal  of  the  training  that  made  him  what  he  is." 
The  mother  of  his  college  room-mate  remembers  very 
well  when  her  son  brought  him  home  to  spend  a  vaca- 
tion. She  speaks  of  him  as  a  "  raw,  angular  fellow,  with 
a  big  nose,"  and  says  that  when  she  met  him  a  year  or 
two  ago  she  was  "  astounded  to  find  that  he  remem- 
bered every  incident  of  those  boyish  days,  and  could  tell 


14  JAMES   G.    BLAINE. 

her  many  things  which  she  had  forgotten.  He  remem- 
bered all  the  family,  their  relatives  and  the  neighbors, 
and  could  talk  of  his  visit  as  though  it  had  been  but 
yesterday." 

H.  H.  M.  Pusey,  of  Iowa,  another  of  his  classmates, 
and  a  member  of  Congress  from  Iowa,  says  : 

"James  Blaine,  as  I  remember  him,  was  a  pretty  well- 
built  boy  and  a  hard  student.  He  had  an  impediment 
of  his  speech,  however,  which  prevented  him  from  join- 
ing in  our  debates  and  declamations,  but  he  could  dis- 
tance all  his  classmates  in  the  matter  of  studies,  and  his 
memory  was  remarkable.  We  had  in  the  college  a  liter- 
ary society,  of  which  I  was  president  about  the  time 
Blaine  was  sixteen  years  old.  One  day  he  came  to  me 
and  said  :  *  B-b  ill,  I  would  like  to  be  p-president  of  the 
literary.  Can  you  f-f-fix  it  for  me  ? '  I  answered  :  '  Why, 
what  do  you  know  about  the  literary  society  ?  You  have 
never  taken  any  part  in  the  debates  and  have  always 
preferred  to  pay  your  fine  to  taking  active  part.  Do 
you  know  anything  about  parliamentary  practice  ?'  He 
replied  :  '  No,  but  I  can  c-c-commit  Cushing's  Manual  to 
memory  in  one  night.'  Well,  the  result  was  that  at  the 
next  meeting  I  '■  fixed  it  '  for  him,  and  at  the  meeting 
next  week  Blaine  was  elected  president,  vice  Pusey, 
term  expired.  As  he  had  promised,  he  committed  the 
entire  contents  of  Cushing's  Manual,  and  he  proved  the 
best  president  the  literary  society  of  the  college  ever 
had. 

"  I  remember  one  day  his  father  told  him  to  get  up 
early  and  go  to  the  market  to  buy  a  turkey.  He  gave 
him  a  dollar,  which  was  a  good  deal  of  money  in  those 
days.     Well,  James  brought  home  the  bird  and  handed 


AT  COLLEGE.  I  5 

it  to  old  Dinah,  the  colored  cook  of  the  Blaine  family. 
When  the  elder  Blaine  came  down  to  breakfast  Dinah 
greeted  him  :  *  Mars  Blaine,  dat  dar  turkey  what  Mars 
Jim  buyed  dis  mawnin'  am  de  quarest  turkey  I's  ever 
seed.     Deed  it  is,  Mars  Blaine.' 

"  <  Why,  what's  the  matter  with  it,  Dinah  ?  ain't  it  big 
enough  ?'  replied  the  old  gentleman.  ^It  ought  to  be, 
surely  ;  Jim  paid  a  dollar  for  it' 

*' '  Oh  yes,  Mars  Blaine,  de  turkey  is  big  'nuff,  but  it 
am  de  funniest  turkey  dis  yer  nigger  ever  seed.' 

"  *  Mars  Blaine  '  went  out  to  the  kitchen  to  look  at 
the  'turkey'  and  found  it  to  be  a  ten-year-old  goose. 

"  He  called  Jim  down  and  hauled  him  over  the  coals, 
saying  :  *  Why,  Jim,  you  ought  to  be  ashamed  of  your- 
self. Fifteen  years  old  and  can't  tell  a  turkey  from  a 
goose ! ' 

*'  Jim  hung  his  head  and  simply  replied  :  '  Why,  how's 
a  boy  to  tell  a  turkey  from  a  goose  when  its  feathers  are 
off.' " 

Another  who  seems  to  have  known  him  says : 

"  To  the  new  scholars  who  entered  in  succeeding 
classes  he  was  a  hero — uniformly  kind  to  them,  ready 
to  give  assistance  and  advice,  and  eager  to  make  pleas- 
ant their  path  in  college  life.  His  handsome  person 
and  neat  attire  ;  his  ready  sympathy  and  prompt  assist- 
ance ;  his  frank,  generous  nature,  and  his  brave  manly 
bearing,  made  him  the  best  known,  the  best  loved, 
and  the  most  popular  boy  at  college.  He  was  the  ar- 
biter among  younger  boys  in  all  their  disputes,  and  the 
authority  with  those  of  his  own  age  on  all  questions." 

Young  Blaine's  chief  diversion  while  in  college  seems 
to  have  been  the  hunting  of  the  bushy-tailed  fox,  which 


1 6  JAMES   G.    BLAINE. 

abounded  in  the  region.  In  his  sportsman's  excursions 
he  often  accompanied  a  negro  named  Randolph  Tearle, 
who  was  accounted  the  most  skilful  huntsman  in  the 
valley.  Washington  County  is  in  the  midst  of  gently 
undulating  hills,  covered  with  generous  forests,  and  was 
a  fruitful  field  for  this  kind  of  sport  when  James  Blaine 
roamed  over  it  as  a  boy.  The  county  is  now,  as  it  had 
begun  to  be  then,  a  rich  agricultural  region.  More  wool 
is  taken  from  the  sheep  that  pasture  on  its  hills  than 
from  those  of  any  other  county  in  the  United  States, 
and  it  has  fairly  productive  beds  of  coal.  On  its  streams 
the  college  lad  beguiled  his  idle  hours  boating  or  fishing. 
The  Monongahela  River  is  the  eastern  boundary  of 
Washington  County,  and  there  are  numerous  creeks 
within  its  limits.  One  of  his  acquaintances  in  the  town 
of  Washington  says  :  ''There  is  not  a  stump  or  rock  on 
these  hills  that  Blaine  doesn't  know.  He  knows  the 
country  about  here  better  than  most  of  the  people  who 
have  never  lived  anywhere  else.  He  must  have  scoured 
these  hills  while  he  was  a  boy." 

He  is  very  well  remembered  by  every  one  about  his 
old  home,  of  course — that  is  the  privilege  of  all  men 
who  go  away  from  any  home  to  become  famous.  But 
not  all  men  in  whose  careers  their  ancient  neighbors 
find  cause  for  honest  pride,  are  held  in  such  kindly  re- 
membrance. In  Brownsville  and  Washington  the  visi- 
tor's ear  is  assailed  with  reminiscences  of  his  early  years. 
These  are  not  all  memorable  or  even  very  entertaining, 
but  they   are   invariably  delivered   with   a   heartiness 


AT  COLLEGE,  1 7 

which  gives  them  a  value  as  expressions  of  the  popular 
liking  for  Mr.  Blaine  among  those  who  have  known  him 
intimately.  Perhaps  he  is  liked  not  only  because  these 
people  remember  him  pleasantly,  but  because  he  remem- 
bers them  pleasantly,  for  when  he  has  returned  to  his 
old  home  his  capacious  memory  has  accompanied  him, 
and  his  success  has  not  taught  him  to  deny  the  humblest 
of  his  old  associates. 

The  class  list  will  have  shown  his  standing  upon 
graduation, — certainly  not  discreditable  to  one  who  is 
remembered  as  a  good  but  not  sedulous  student  by  his 
companions.  It  is  said  that  he  excelled  in  mathematics 
and  the  languages.  It  was  a  fit  close  to  his  college 
career,  as  well  as  a  prophetic  beginning  of  his  life-work, 
that  his  commencement  oration  should  have  been  upon 
**The  Duty  of  an  Educated  American." 


III. 

EXPERIMENTS. 

"A  FEW  months  after  graduation,  in  October,"  says 
Mr.  Blaine,  in  a  letter  already  presented  to  the  reader, 
*' I  went  to  Kentucky."  That  is  a  simple  record,  and 
conveys  no  intimation  of  the  causes  which  impelled  the 
step  ;  and  it  does  not  become  his  biographer  to  be  more 
wise.  He  sought  his  fortune  in  what  was  then  known 
as  the  West ;  and  the  journey,  though  a  briefer  one  in 
miles  than  that  to  the  region  now  known  under  that 
name,  may  very  well  have  occupied  as  much  time,  for 
he  went  by  boat.  His  fortune  was  not  found  at  the 
Western  Military  Institute,  a  school  for  boys  estab- 
lished at  Blue  Lick  Springs,  Kentucky.  But  as  a 
professor  he  won  the  general  liking  which  had  fallen 
naturally  to  him  as  a  student,  and  was  rather  uncom- 
monly successful,  it  would  seem,  in  a  calling  which 
could  not  have  been  congenial.  He  was  upon  excellent 
terms  with  all  the  boys,  kept  ready  command  of  their 
Christian  names,  as  well  as  of  the  characters  for  which 
those  names  stood,  and  was  able  in  this  way  to  exert  a 


EXPERIMENTS.  1 9 

positive  influence,  though  occupying  a  subordinate  posi- 
tion. When  a  contest  arose  between  the  owners  of  the 
Springs  and  the  faculty  touching  the  removal  of  the 
school  he  exhibited  his  personal  courage.  The  diffi- 
culty finally  occasioned  a  melee  in  which  the  knife  and 
revolver  played  the  usual  part.  The  young  professor 
from  Pennsylvania  only  used  his  fist,  but  used  it  skil- 
fully, fighting  with  the  greatest  coolness  and  courage. 

But  the  most  important  fruit  of  his  Kentucky  resi- 
dence was  not  the  proof  it  offered  of  his  personal  cour- 
age, his  ability  to  do  a  thing  not  after  his  calling  wxll, 
or  his  security  in  the  approval  of  his  fellows  in  a  wider 
world  than  that  of  the  college.  It  w^as  at  Blue  Lick 
Springs  that  he  met  the  admirable  woman  who  became 
his  wife.  Miss  Harriet  Stanwood,  a  native  of  Maine, 
had  been  sent  to  be  educated  at  a  seminary  for  young 
ladies  at  Millersburg,  Kentucky.  This  school  was 
presided  over  by  the  wife  of  the  principal  of  the  West- 
ern Military  Institute,  and  was  twenty  miles  from  Blue 
Lick  Springs.  The  intercourse  between  the  two  schools 
was  of  course  constant,  and  it  was  natural  that  the  pro- 
fessors of  the  military  academy  should  meet  the  young 
girls  of  the  seminary.  No  account  remains  of  the  woo- 
ing, but  in  little  more  than  a  year  after  his  arrival  in 
Kentucky  he  married  Miss  Stanwood,  and  soon  after 
returned  with  her  to  Pennsylvania,  where  he  for  a  time 
studied  law.  Though  prepared  he  did  not  present  him- 
self for  admission  to  the  Bar,  but  the  grounding  in 
legal  principles  then  gained  has  been  of  essential  ser- 


20  JAMES   G.   BLAINE. 

vice  in  all  his  later  work.  He  was  perhaps  in  need  of 
some  more  immediately  remunerative  occupation  than 
the  study  of  the  law,  for  in  1854,  being  then  the  father 
of  a  boy  of  two,  he  answered  the  advertisement  of  Mr. 
William  Chapin,  Principal  of  the  Pennsylvania  Institu- 
tion for  the  Instruction  of  the  Blind,  for  a  teacher. 
This  excellent  home  and  school  for  the  blind  still  stands 
at  the  corner  of  Twentieth  and  Race  Streets  in  Phila- 
delphia, and  Mr.  Chapin  is  still  its  admirable  principal. 
He  has  furnished  the  writer  of  these  lines  with  ''the 
little  he  so  pleasantly  remembers"  about  the  young 
man  who  offered  himself  for  the  vacant  position  thirty 
years  ago  : 

"We  needed,"  he  writes,  *'a  principal  instructor  in 
the  Pennsylvania  Institution  for  the  Instruction  of  the 
Blind,  in  the  year  1852.  A  large  number  answered  my 
advertisement ;  and  one,  whose  fine  manly  presence 
and  intellectual  features  struck  me  so  favorably  that 
no  difficulty  existed  in  making  a  selection.  The  ap- 
pointment was  at  once  made.  His  estimable  wife  and 
little  son,  Stanley,  a  beautiful  boy  of  about  two  years, 
was  welcomed  with  the  husband  and  father,  though 
not  within  the  rules  of  the  institution  in  such  cases, 
and  the  only  exception  ever  made.  But  we  could  not 
afford  to  reject  a  case  whose  promise  was  as  one  in  a 
thousand. 

"We  were  not  disappointed.  He  had  charge  of  the 
higher  classes  in  literature  and  science.  The  blind  are 
taught   orally  in   great    part.      Their   mental   work  is 


EXPERIMEN-TS.  2 1 

remarkable.  The  most  abstruse  and  difficult  mathe- 
matical problems  are  mastered  by  them.  And  Mr. 
Blaine's  brilliant  mental  powers  were  exactly  qualified 
to  enlighten  and  instruct  the  interesting  minds  before 
him,  and  solve  all  their  difficulties. 

*'  He  was  a  good  speaker  and  talker.  He  had  a  re- 
markable fluency  of  words,  and  his  language  was  good. 
He  was  an  excellent  scholar.  His  memory  of  facts  and 
persons  of  the  long  past  was  wonderful.  He  was  es- 
pecially fond  of  debate,  and  his  ready  memory  gave 
him  great  advantages.  We  had  many  argumentative 
contests  together  during  the  two  years  he  remained 
with  us.  He  was  positive,  self-possessed,  and  deter- 
mined, if  possible,  to  gain  his  point. 

''  Mr,  Blaine,  it  will  be  remembered,  was  at  that  period 
(1852  to  1854)  a  young  man.  His  experiences  since  then 
have  all  been  in  the  direction  of  improvement  and  great 
enlargement  of  opportunity  in  public  life.  If  he  was 
a  young  intellectual  giant  then,  we  may  presume  those 
powders  are  now  somewhat  colossal. 

''  He  left  our  institution  in  1854,  to  take  charge  of  a 
public  journal  in  Maine.  I  marked  his  rapid  course. 
He  was  elected  soon  to  the  State  Legislature.  I  noticed, 
but  without  surprise,  his  statistical  reports  on  State  and 
other  subjects.  He  was  great  on  figures,  dates,  and 
facts,  as  had  been  already  noticed  when  wHth  us,  in  the 
compilation,  in  manuscript,  of  a  quarto  volume  of  284 
pages,  giving  all  the  business,  history,  and  facts  con- 
nected with  the  progress  of  the  institution  until  the  day 


22  JAMES   G.    BLAINE. 

he  left.  This  large  voluntary  work,  in  his  own  quiet 
liours  after  the  duties  of  the  day,  was  a  surprise  and 
gratification  to  the  managers,  who  made  a  suitable  rec- 
ognition of  this  interesting  gift.  The  volume  is  pre- 
served in  the  institution  as  a  testimonial  of  its  author, 
and  is  the  more  valued  for  the  great  and  popular  favor 
he  now  enjoys  tliroughout  the  country." 

"  He  was  a  man,"  Mr.  Chapin  has  elsewhere  said,  "of 
very  4pcided  will,  and  was  very  much  disposed  to  argu- 
ment. He  was  young  then — only  twenty-two — and  was 
rather  impulsive,  leaping  to  a  conclusion  very  quickly. 
But  he  was  always  ready  to  defend  his  conclusions, 
however  suddenly  he  seemed  to  have  reached  them. 
We  had  many  a  familiar  discussion  in  this  very  room, 
and  his  arguments  always  astonished  me  by  the  knowl- 
edge they  displaved  of  facts  in  history  and  politics.  His 
memory  was  remarkable,  and  seemed  to  retain  details 
which  ordinary  men  would  forget." 

The  title-page  of  the  book  which  he  compiled  reads  : 

Journal 

of  the 

Pennsylvania  Institution 

for  the 

INSTRUCTION  OF  THE  BLIND, 

from  its  foundation. 

Compiled  from  ofhcial  records 

by 

James  G.  Blaine. 

1854. 


EXPERIMENTS.  2$ 

The  book  is  made  with  perfect  method,  the  abbrevia- 
tions used  being  explained  on  the  first  page.  On  the 
fly-leaf  is  the  following  : 

**  On  this  and  the  four  following  pages  will  be  found 
some  notes  in  regard  to  the  origin  of  the  Pennsylvania 
Institution  for  the  Instruction  of  the  Blind,  furnished 
by  I.  Francis  Fisher."  "From  this  page,  the  i88th," 
says  a  Philadelphia  journal,  "  in  which  is  the  last  entry 
made  by  Mr.  Blaine,  every  line  is  a  model  of  neatness 
and  accuracy.  On  every  page  is  a  wide  margin.  At 
the  top  of  the  margin  is  the  year,  in  ornamental  figures. 
Below  it  is  a  brief  statement  of  what  the  text  contains 
opposite  that  portion  of  the  marginal  entry.  Every  year's 
record  closes  with  an  elaborate  table,  giving  the  attend- 
ance of  members  of  the  board.  The  last  pages  of  the 
book  are  filled  with  alphabetical  lists  of  officers  of  the 
institution  and  statistical  tables,  compiled  by  the  same 
patient  and  untiring  hand.  One  of  the  lists  is  that  of 
the  'principal  teachers.'  No.  13  is  followed  by  the 
signature  'James  G.  Blaine,  from  August  5,  1852,  to* 
— and  then,  in  another  hand,  the  record  is  completed 
with  the  date  November  23,  1854." 

"  I  think  that  the  book,"  says  Mr.  Chapin,  *'  illustrates 
the  character  of  the  man  in  accurate  mastery  of  facts 
and  orderly  presentation  of  details.  We  still  use  it  for 
reference,  and  Mr.  Frank  Battles,  the  assistant  princi- 
pal, is  bringing  the  record  down  to  the  present  time. 

"  Mr.  Blaine  taught  mathematics,  in  which  he  ex- 
celled, and  the  higher  branches.     His  wife  was  univer- 


24  JAMES    G.    BLAIXE. 

saily  beloved,  and  often  read  aloud  to  the  pupils. 
When  he  went  away  to  become  editor  of  the  Ke7i7iebec 
Journal  we  felt  that  we  had  lost  a  man  of  large  parts, 
and  we  have  watched  his  upward  career  with  great  in- 
terest. He  has  called  here  a  number  of  times  when  he 
stopped  in  the  city  on  his  way  to  and  from  Washington. 
The  last  time  he  was  here  he  heard  with  great  interest 
of  the  progress  of  D.  D.  Wood,  the  blind  organist  of  St. 
Stephen's  church,  who  was  one  of  his  pupils,  and  re- 
called Mr.  Wood's  proficiency  in  mathematics." 

**  Three  persons  now  holding  positions  in  the  institu- 
tion, Michael  M.  Williams,  William  McMillan,  and  Miss 
Maria  Cormany,  were  pupils  under  Mr.  Blaine.  Mr. 
Williams  says  :  '  Everybody  loved  Mr.  Blaine  and  his 
wife.  Both  were  always  ready  to  do  anything  for  our 
amusement  in  leisure  hours,  and  we  had  a  great  deal  of 
fun,  into  which  they  entered  heartily.  I  think  that  Mrs. 
Blaine  read  nearly  all  of  Dickens'  works  aloud  to  us  ; 
and  Mr.  Blaine  used  to  make  us  roar  with  laughter  by 
reading  out  of  a  work  entitled  *  Charcoal  Sketches.' 
In  the  evening  he  used  to  read  aloud  to  both  the  boys 
and  girls.  Then  we  would  wind  up  with  a  spelling-bee. 
Sometimes  Mr,  Blaine  would  give  out  the  words  and 
sometimes  one  of  the  big  boys  would  do  it,  while  Mr. 
Blaine  stood  up  among  the  boys.  Then  we  would  have 
great  fun  trying  to  'spell  the  teacher  down.'  " 

When  this  institution,  in  which  Mr.  Blaine  for  the 
second  time  discharged  the  functions  of  teacher,  was 
first  established,   there  was  but  one  other  similar  estab- 


EXPERIMENTS.  2$ 

lishment  in  the  country,  that  of  Boston,  which  had  be- 
gun its  work  only  the  year  previous.  "  It  was,  there- 
fore," we  are  told,  **  an  untried  enterprise  that  its  found- 
ers undertook,  and  its  success  is  wholly  due  to  their 
wisdom,  energy,  and  devotion  to  the  interests  of  the 
blind.  Starting  in  a  rented  house,  with  an  assessed  in- 
come of  only  $i,ooo  a  year,  it  now  possesses  a  fine 
building,  and  has,  in  addition  to  receiving  a  subsidy 
from  the  State,  through  the  liberality  of  its  friends, 
an  income  of  its  own.  The  fiftieth  anniversary  of  the 
foundation  of  the  institution  was  publicly  celebrated 
by  appropriate  exercises  at  Association  Hall,  on  March 
5,  1884." 


IV. 

EDITOR  AND  STATE  POLITICAL  LEADER. 

In  his  work  here  it  is  evident  that  Mr.  Blaine  was 
successful,  but  his  wife  was  anxious  that  their  home 
should  be  made  in  her  native  State,  and,  guided  perhaps 
by  his  own  ambition  for  a  larger  field  as  well  as  by  a 
spirit  of  complaisance  to  his  wife's  wishes,  he  resigned 
his  position  in  the  school  and  removed  to  Augusta, 
where  his  home  has  since  been.  He  found  himself,  per- 
haps, without  certain  of  the  theories  of  life  and  affairs 
which  prevail  in  Maine,  but  he  either  readily  assimi- 
lated them  or  found  that  his  own  sound  and  honest 
theories  sufficed  ;  for,  from  the  editorial  chair  of  the 
Kennebec  Journal,  purchased  with  Joseph  Baker,  a 
prominent  lawyer  of  that  place,  he  presently  exercised 
an  important  influence  in  his  adopted  State.  The  your- 
nal  was  a  weekly  and  an  organ  of  the  Whig  party,  and 
under  Mr.  Blaine's  management  did  vigorous  service 
for  that  expiring  cause.  In  1857,  just  after  the  first 
convention  of  the  Republican  party,  he  disposed  of  his 
interest  in  the  Journal  and  assumed  editorial  charge  of 


EDITOR  AND  STATE  POLITICAL  LEADER.  2/ 

a  daily  newspaper  in  Portland,  called  the  Advertiser. 
During  the  campaign  of  i860  he  for  a  time  again  edited 
the  Kennebec  J^ournal^  its  regular  editor  being  ill  ;  but 
with  his  election  to  the  State  Legislature,  in  1858,  he 
gave  up  the  active  pursuit  of  journalism.  His  connec- 
tion with  the  press  may,  however,  be  reckoned  as  ex- 
tending from  1854  to  i860,  a  period  of  six  years. 

The  loosening  of  party  lines  at  this  time  offered  a  fruit- 
ful opportunity  to  young  men.  The  old  Whig  party 
was  breaking  up,  inadequate  to  the  solution  of  the  tre- 
mendous problems  which  had  risen.  When  a  party 
came  into  sudden  being,  eagerly  ready  to  solve  the  larg- 
est problems,  and,  though  so  swift  a  growth,  entirely 
capable  of  solving  them,  the  moribund  Whig  organiza- 
tion died  instantly,  and  the  young  Republican  party 
took  up  its  abandoned  endeavors  with  fresh  energy  and 
a  determination  before  which  everything  went  down. 
It  came  into  existence  with  an  alertness  at  which  dazed 
conser\^atives  blinked,  and  it  organized,  and  uttered  its 
simple  convictions  with  a  positiveness  which  made  both 
its  friends  and  opponents  start  a  little.  Its  convic- 
tions involved  large  consequences,  for  they  expressed 
themselves  in  a  moral  purpose,  and  when  that  danger- 
ous thing  has  got  abroad  we  know  that  small  parties 
and  small  men  must  take  care  of  themselves.  It  was  a 
party  built  upon  an  idea — a  prodigious  idea.  It  looked 
to  the  future  ;  it  broke  with  the  past,  and  it  was  there- 
fore pre-eminently  the  party  of  young  men.  One  young 
man,  at  his  editorial  desk  in  a  town  of  Maine,  felt  that 


28  JAMES   G,    BLAINE, 

with  the  accustomed  quickness  of  his  sensibility.  He 
saw  that  the  time  of  the  Whig  organization  had  come  ; 
he  recognized  the  fresh  impulse,  he  perceived  its  value, 
and  he  was  among  the  first  in  his  State  to  throw  himself 
into  the  new  cause.  It  was  a  time  when  young  men 
readily  secured  a  hearing.  They  were  indeed  the  archi- 
tects of  the  party  which  had  just  sprung  into  being. 
This  movement,  coming  at  the  outset  of  Mr.  Blaine's 
political  career,  gave  him  an  opportunity  for  which  he 
might  otherwise  have  waited  long.  His  writings  on  the 
subject  which  now  engrossed  all  men's  thoughts  were  too 
vigorous  and  earnest  to  escape  attention,  and  he  found 
himself  a  leader  almost  before  he  could  have  expected 
to  be  thoroughly  recognized  as  a  subaltern.  His  early 
success  is  the  explanation  of  his  attainment,  at  little 
more  than  fifty,  to  the  highest  honor  of  his  party.  The 
reasons  of  that  early  success  are  obvious,  and  it  is  im- 
possible to  refuse  one's  admiration  to  the  courageous 
conviction  and  the  prompt  action  which  gave  it  force. 
It  is  an  old  message  now — that  which  came  to  the  large- 
fibred  men  of  1856 — it  has  grown  dull  in  our  ears.  But 
its  genuineness  was  not  so  clear  then.  Enemies  strove 
to  hinder  its  voice,  and  it  was  scoffed  at.  The  men  who 
heard  that  whispered  message  through  the  contumely 
of  adversaries  and  the  doubtful  murmurs  of  half-hearted 
friends,  who  heeded  it  and  thundered  it  at  last  through 
the  iron  throat  of  war,  are  men  who  must  always  be 
gratefully  remembered  by  loyal  hearts. 

The  sentiments  which   Mr.    Blaine   made   so   freely 


EDITOR  AND  STATE  POLITICAL  LEADER.  29 

known  through  the  columns  of  a  newspaper  he  was 
ready  to  champion  in  person  ;  and  he  was  sent  as  a 
delegate  from  Maine  to  the  first  convention  of  the 
Republican  party.  He  was  made  one  of  the  secretaries 
of  that  body,  and  when  General  Fremont  was  nomi- 
nated returned  home  to  find  himself,  at  a  ratification 
meeting,  called  upon  for  his  maiden  speech.  A  writer 
says  : 

"  At  that  time  he  had  exhibited  all  the  qualifications 
of  an  orator,  but  had  never  ventured  upon  the  public 
platform.  He  seemed  to  have  a  strong  fear  of  address- 
ing a  public  audience,  and  it  was  only  after  much  persua- 
sion that  he  consented,  on  this  occasion,  to  speak.  When 
he  arose  to  his  feet  he  was  in  such  a  state  of  perturbation 
and  embarrassment  that  it  was  some  time  before  he  was 
able  to  command  himself  so  as  to  begin  to  talk.  From 
the  moment  he  got  possession  of  his  voice  he  continued, 
and  made  one  of  the  finest  speeches  he  ever  made  in  his 
life." 

The  late  Governor  Kent,  of  Maine,  speaking  of  Mr. 
Blaine's  career  in  that  State,  has  said  :  **  Almost  from 
the  day  of  his  assuming  editorial  charge  of  the  Kennebec 
Journal^  at  the  early  age  of  twenty-three,  Mr.  Blaine 
sprang  into  a  position  of  great  influence  in  the  politics 
and  policy  of  Maine.  At  twenty-five  he  was  a  leading 
power  in  the  councils  of  the  Republican  party,  so  rec- 
ognized by  Fessenden,  Hamlin,  and  the  two  Morrills, 
and  others  then  and  still  prominent  in  the  State.  Be- 
fore he  was  twenty-nine  he  was  chosen  chairman  of  the 


30  JAMES   G.    BLAINE, 

Executive  Committee  of  the  Republican  organization 
in  Maine — a  position  he  has  held  ever  since,  and  from 
which  he  has  practically  shaped  and  directed  every 
political  campaign  in  the  State,  always  leading  his 
party  to  brilliant  victory." 


V. 

IN   CONGRESS. 

An  even,  certain  ascent  has  distinguished  Mr. 
Blaine's  political  advancement.  It  has  gone  forward 
by  promotions  as  regular  as  if  they  had  been  won  in  the 
army  or  navy.  The  time  had  come  for  a  new  step 
which  was  to  widen  his  field  from  the  State  to  the 
Nation. 

In  the  convention  which  first  nominated  him  for  Con- 
gress he  stated  his  convictions  as  to  the  policy  that 
should  be  pursued  in  suppressing  the  rebellion.  He 
said  :  "  The  great  object  with  us  all  is  to  subdue  the 
rebellion — speedily,  effectually,  and  finally.  In  our 
march  to  that  end  we  must  crush  all  intervening  obsta- 
cles. If  slavery  or  any  other  *  institution '  stands  in  the 
way  it  must  be  removed.  Perish  all  things  else,  the 
national  life  must  be  saved."  He  added  that  he  was 
determined  to  stand  heartily  by  the  Administration  of 
Abraham  Lincoln.  He  declared  that  he  should  be  the 
unswerving  adherent  of  the  policy  and  measures  which 
the  President  in  his  wisdom  might  adopt.     Mr.  Blaine's 


32  JAMES   G.    BLAINE. 

patriotic  utterances  met  with  a  hearty  response,  and  he 
was  elected  over  his  Democratic  competitor  by  the  larg- 
est majority  ever  given  in  his  district,  it  exceeding  3,000. 
During  his  first  term  there  sat  with  him  on  the 
floor  of  the  House,  Elihu  B.  Washburne,  Owen  Love- 
joy,  George  W.  Julian,  Godlove  S,  Orth,  Schuyler  Col- 
fax, James  F.  Wilson,  William  B.  Allison,  John  A.  Kas- 
son,  Alexander  H.  Rice,  Henry  L.  Dawes,  William 
Windom,  F.  P.  Blair,  Jr.,  James  Brooks,  Erastus  Corn- 
ing, Reuben  E.  Fenton,  Francis  Kernan,  George  H. 
Pendleton,  Robert  C.  Schenck,  James  A.  Garfield,  Sam- 
uel J.  Randall,  William  D.  Kelley,  Thaddeus  Stevens, 
G.  W.  Schofield,  and  many  other  men  who  have  since 
become  prominent.  From  this  time,  it  has  properly 
been  said,  his  career  is  part  of  the  national  history.  He 
took  at  once  an  active  part  in  debate,  and  presently  be- 
came known  as  a  shrewd  and  ready  speaker.  His  long 
speeches  were  not  numerous,  but  in  the  swift  skirmishes 
which  are  constantly  in  progress  in  the  House  of  Rep- 
resentatives he  was  excellent,  even  at  this  early  stage  of 
his  congressional  career,  beyond  any  other  member. 
The  nimble  movement  of  his  mind  furnished  him  with 
a  tremendous  power,  and  the  ceaseless  shower  of  small 
shot  with  which  he  vexed  his  adversaries  proved,  in  the 
result,  at  least  as  effective  as  if  he  had  trained  the  sol- 
itary canon  of  heavier  speakers  upon  them.  His  brief- 
est replies  and  comments,  even  as  one  reads  them,  re- 
mote from  the  stirring  scenes  which  induced  them,  and 
turned  cold  upon  the  dreary  pages  of  the  Congressional 


IlSr  CONGRESS.  33 

Record^  have  a  tenacious  quality  of  life  and  spirit.  The 
zest  of  this  hurtling  fire  has  the  rarest  power  which  we 
know — the  power  to  recreate  the  time  and  the  occasion, 
and  to  put  a  pulse  in  words  long  stiffened  into  type. 
It  is  the  force  of  a  munificent  personality. 

This  dexterity,  this  quick  and  daring  form  of  attack, 
may  seem  to  one  who  merely  reads  of  it,  and  has  not 
been  privileged  by  sight  of  it  in  action,  a  clever  but  su- 
perficial parliamentary  method.  But  only  to  read  the 
report  of  one  of  these  animated  passages  at  arms,  which 
anyone  may  still  do,  is  to  become  aware  of  the  solidity 
of  their  foundation.  They  sprang  from  the  securest 
knowledge  of  their  subject,  and  were  so  ready  because 
the  chief  actor  in  them  was  filled  with  understanding 
of  the  issue.  Mr.  Blaine's  comprehension  was  alert  even 
in  his  college  days,  but  if  his  mind  went  forward  by 
leaps  it  always  alighted  on  perfectly  firm  ground.  His 
wide  and  abundant  interest  in  every  public  topic  contri- 
buted directly  to  the  strength  in  rapid  debate  long  at- 
tributed to  him.  He  not  only  always  understood  but 
was  always  interested,  and  his  zeal  often  turned  what 
appeared  to  the  casual  eye  a  common  sort  of  road  dust — 
familiar  to  the  House  of  Representatives — into  a  very 
fair  quality  of  gold.  His  speeches  are  illustrated  by  the 
ample  acquaintance  with  history  and  literature  which 
he  gained  as  a  young  man,  and  his  comparisons  are 
usually  strikingly  felicitous.  His  style,  however,  is  sim- 
ple and  direct,  and  leaves  the  flowers  of  rhetoric  uncut. 
It  assails  its  subject  with  straightforward  vigor  and  takes 
3 


34  JAMES   G.    BLAINE. 

hold  of  the  substance  of  it.  His  earnest  manner  carries 
a  conviction  of  its  own  with  it,  and  those  who  like  it  are 
willing  to  grant  in  advance  the  unfailing  cogency  of  ar- 
gument upon  which  it  rests. 

During  his  six  years  on  the  floor  of  the  House  Mr. 
Blaine  was  a  favorite  among  frequenters  of  the  gal- 
leries, not  alone  for  that  common  and  not  necessarily 
lofty  ability  to  enliven  the  drowsy  hours,  but  for  his 
devoted  championship  of  every  just  and  wise  measure. 
It  was  a  prophecy  of  the  wider  popularity  which  began 
to  reward  his  tireless  zeal  in  the  public  service. 

In  writing  of  his  power  as  a  speaker,  his  unusual 
success  in  what  is  euphoniously  termed  "  stump  speak- 
ing "  should  be  recognized.  The  qualities  which  gave 
him  the  leadership  of  the  House,  lent  his  political  ad- 
dresses to  the  people  a  force  entirely  new.  and  peculi- 
arly well  adapted  to  its  object.  His  speeches  for  can- 
didates have  won  them  votes.  No  one  who  hears  him 
can  doubt  that ;  but  it  has  been  repeatedly  shown.  la 
his  own  State,  where  it  is  easy  to  number  political  pulse- 
beats,  and  to  learn  their  origin  with  some  accuracy,  his 
championship  has  more  than  once  saved  an  election, 
and  in  the  broader  field  of  national  politics,  though  his 
influence  is  not  so  easily  measured,  it  has  counted  for  a 
tremendous  force.  One  wonders  if  the  speeches  of  a 
canvass  in  common  really  do  gain  votes ;  we  have  at 
least  all  heard  addresses  which  must  have  lost  votes. 
The  quality  in  Mr.  Blaine's  manner  of  talking  to  a 
political  meeting — for  like  other  successful  speakers  of 


IN-  CONGRESS.  35 

this  kind  he  uses  no  formal  oratory — which  leaves  in 
every  mind  a  confidence  of  its  effect,  is  not  a  thing  to 
be  reached  by  casual  analysis.  It  may  be  doubted  if 
any  process  would  make  it  known  at  last.  The  current 
explanation,  we  believe,  is  "personal  magnetism,"  but 
that  is  very  weak.  We  at  once  ask,  what  is  "  personal 
magnetism?"  and  as  no  one  knows  what  it  is,  though 
every  one  has  felt  it,  the  answer  waits.  It  is  at  least  a 
remarkable  power  ;  it  engrosses  and  fascinates  his  au- 
diences. His  zeal,  his  energy,  his  overmastering  belief 
in  the  truth  and  righteousness  of  his  cause,  are  things 
which  reach  the  dullest  minds  and  sway  them.  His 
arguments,  stoutly  but  plainly  put,  have  a  very  especial 
and  unusual  cogency,  and  their  march  is  in  a  solid 
front.  It  is,  however,  in  a  less  palpable  quality  than  any 
of  these  that  his  highest  power  resides — a  quality 
which  in  trying  to  express  we  begin  to  compare  and  to 
find  symbols  for.  There  is  no  adequate  word,  and  our 
borrowings  from  the  language  of  the  most  mysterious 
of  natural  forces  are  themselves  only  attempts  at  the 
expression  of  the  inexpressible. 

An  attempt  to  pursue  his  course  step  by  step  during 
the  long  term  of  his  service  in  Congress  would  be  weari- 
some. He  spoke  upon  every  important  measure,  and 
briefly  discussed  many  petty  laws  about  which  none 
but  sedulous  readers  of  the  Congressional  Record  will 
ever  be  perfectly  informed.  They  had  their  bearing 
at  the  time,  as  evreything  has  ;  and  it  may  as  well  be 
admitted,  as  a  reply  in   advance  to  those   malevolent 


36  JAMES   G.    BLAINE. 

Students  of  the  proceedings  of  Congress  who  assist  at 
all  presidential  campaigns,  that  Mr.  Blaine  occasional- 
ly fancied  they  had  a  bearing  which  later  it  was  plain 
they  had  not,  and  that  he  made  mistakes  enough  in  his 
votes  to  relieve  his  biographer  of  the  duty  of  proving 
his  perfection. 

The  list  of  committees  on  which  he  has  served  dur- 
ing his  long  term  of  service  exhibits  almost  as  well  as 
any  other  record  the  kind  of  work  he  has  done  during 
his  long  term  of  congressional  ser\dce.  They  are  the 
better  worth  giving  in  full,  as  they  represent  the  kind  of 
work  for  which,  except  among  Congressmen,  the  labor- 
ious committee-men  have  little  credit.  It  is  usually  dull 
routine  labor,  and  can  be  made  as  abundant  as  one  will. 
It  has  always  been  very  abundant  with  Mr.  Blaine ;  by 
means  of  it  he  has  doubtless  saved  the  public  treasury 
and  the  statute-book  from  more  than  either  his  friends 
or  opponents  know,  and  as  it  has  been  done  in  silence 
it  will  perhaps  bear  a  little  trumpeting. 

First  Session,   Thirty-ninth  Congress. 

Committee  on  Military  Affairs. 

Robert  C.  Shenck,  of  O.  Sydenham  E.  Ancona,  of  Penn. 

H.  C  Denning,  of  Conn.  John  H.  Ketcham,  of  N.  Y. 

Oilman  Martin,  of  N.  H.  James  G.  Blaine,  of  Me. 

LovELL  H.  Rousseau,  of  Ky.  Chas.  Sitgreaves,  of  N.  J. 
John  A.  Bingham,  of  O. 

Select  Committee  of  One  from  each  State  represented  on  the  Death  oj 
President  Lincoln. 

E.  B.  Washburne,  of  111.  K  C  Schenck,  of  O. 

James  G.  Blaine,  of  Me.  G.  S.  Shanklin,  of  Ky. 


IN  CONGRESS.  37 

J.  W.  Patterson,  of  N.  H.  G.  S.  Orth,  of  Ind. 

J.  S.  Morrill,  of  Vt.  J.  W.  McClurg,  of  Mo. 

N.  P.  Banks,  of  Mass.  T.  C.  Beaman,  of  Mich. 

G.  A.  Jenckes,  of  R.  I.  J.  A.  Kasson,  of  Iowa, 

D.  C.  Denning,  of  Conn.  J.  C.  Sloan,  of  Wis. 
J.  H.  Griswold,  of  N.  Y.  W.  Higby,  of  Gal. 

E.  R.  V.  Wright,  of  N.  J.  W.  Windom,  of  Minn. 
T.  Stevens,  of  Penn.  S.  Clarke,  of  Kans. 

J.  A.  Nicholson,  of  Del.  K  V.  Whaley,  of  W.  Va. 

F.  Thomas,  of  Md. 

Second  Session,  Thirty-ninth  Congress. 

Committee  on  Military  Affairs. 

R.  C.  Schenck,  of  O.  S.  E.  Ancona,  of  Penn. 

H.  C.  Denning,  of  Conn.  J.  H.  Ketcham,  of  N.  Y. 

G.  Marston,  of  N.  H.  James  G.  Blaine,  of  Me. 

L.  H.  Rousseau,  of  Ky.  Chas.  Sitgreaves,  of  N.  J. 

J.  A.  Bingham,  of  O. 

Committee  on  War  Debts  of  Loyal  States. 
James  G.  Blaine,  of  Me.  J.  A.  Plants,  of  O. 

T.  Hooper,  of  Miss.  W.  A.  Newell,  of  N.  J. 

B.  F.  Loan,  of  Mo.  T.  W.  Ferry,  of  Mich. 

B.  M.  BoYER,  of  Penn.  J.  R.  Hawkins,  of  Tenn. 

W.  A.  Darling,  of  N.  Y. 

First  Session,  Fortieth  Congress. 
Committee  on  the  Rules. 
The  Speaker,  James  G.  Blaine.        N.  P.  Banks,  of  Mass. 
Elihu  B.  Washburne,  of  111.        J.  Brooks,  of  N.  Y. 

Second  Session,  Fortieth  Congress. 
Committee  on  the  Rules. 
The  Speaker,  James  G.  Blaine.        N.  P.  Banks,  of  Mass. 
Elihu  B.  Washburne,  of  111.        J.  Brooks,  of  N.  Y. 

Third  Session,  Fortieth  Congress. 
Committee  on  the  Rules. 
The  Speaker,  James  G.  Blaine.        N.  P.  BANKS,  of  Mass. 
Elihu  B.  Washburne,  of  111.        J.  Brooks,  of  N.  Y. 


38  JAMES   G.    BLAINE, 

First  Session,  Forty-first  Congress. 
Committee  on  the  Rules. 
The  Speaker,  James  G.  Blaine.        James  A.  Garfield,  of  O. 
N.  P.  Banks,  of  Mass.  James  Brooks,  of  N.  Y. 

T.  W.  Ferry,  of  Mich. 

Second  Session,  Forty-first  Congress. 
Committee  on  the  Rules. 
The  Speaker,  James  G.  Blaine.        James  A.  Garfield,  of  O. 
N.  P.  Banks,  of  Mass.  James  Brooks,  of  N.  Y. 

T.  W.  Ferry,  of  Mich. 

First  Session,  Forty-second  Congress. 
Committee  on  the  Rules. 
The  Speaker,  James  G.  Blaine.        S.  S.  Cox,  of  N.  Y. 
N.  P.  Banks,  of  Mass.  S.  J.  Randall,  of  Perm. 

James  A.  Garfield,  of  O. 

Second  Session,  Forty-second  Congress. 
Committee  on  the  Rules. 
The  Speaker,  James  G.  Blaine.        S.  S.  Cox,  of  N.  Y. 
N.  P.  Banks,  of  Mass.  S.  J.  Randall,  of  Penn. 

James  A.  Garfield,  of  O. 

Third  Session,  Forty-second  Congress. 
Comm.ittee  on  the  Rules. 
The  Speaker,  James  G.  Blaine.        S.  S.  Cox,  of  N.  Y. 
N.  P.  Banks,  of  Mass.  S.  J.  Randall,  of  Penn, 

James  A.  Garfield,  of  O. 

First  Session,  Forty-third  Congress. 
Committee  on  the  Rules. 
The  Speaker,  James  G.  Blaine.        S.  S.  Cox,  of  N.  Y. 
Horace  Maynard,  of  Tenn.  S.  J.  Randall,  of  Penn. 

James  A.  Garfield,  of  O. 

Second  Session,  Forty-third  Congress. 
Co?nmittee  on  the  Rules. 
The  Speaker,  James  G.  Blaine.        S.  S.  Cox,  of  N.  Y. 
Horace  Maynard,  of  Tenn.  S.  J.  Randall,  of  Penn, 

James  A.  Garfield,  of  O. 


IN  CONGRESS.  39 

Third  Session,  Forty-third  Congress. 
Committee  on  the  Rules. 
The  Speaker,  Jaines  G.  Blaine.        S.  S.  Cox,  of  N.  Y. 
Horace  Maynard,  of  Tenn.  S.  J.  Randall,  of  Penn. 

James  A.  Garfield,  of  O. 

First  Session,  Forty-fourth  Congress. 
Com?fiittee  on  Ways  and  Means. 
N.  R.  Morrison,  of  111.  J.  T.  Tucker,  of  Va. 

Fernando  Wood,  of  N.  Y.  James  G.  Blaine,  of  Me. 

J.  Hancock,  of  Tex.  W.  D.  Kelley,  of  Penn. 

P.  F.  Thomas,  of  Md.  James  A.  Garfield,  of  O. 

B.  H.  Hill,  of  Ga.  H.  C.  Burchard,  of  111. 

C.  W.  Chapin,  of  Miss. 

Committee  on  the  Rtiles. 
The  Speaker,  Ja7nes  G.  Blaine.        N.  P.  Banks,  of  Mass. 
S.  J.  Randall,  of  Penn.  S.  S.  Cox,  of  N.  Y. 

Select  Committee  of  the  House,  on  the  Centennial  Celebration  and  the 

proposed  National  Census  of  1875. 
James  H.  Hopkins,  of  Penn.  A.  A.  Hardenbergh,  of  N.  J. 

J.  Hancock,  of  Texas.  W.  D.  Kelley,  of  Penn. 

.W.  H.  Barnum,  of  Conn.  James  G.  Blaine,  of  Me. 

N.  P.  Banks,  of  Mass.  W.  Lawrence,  of  O. 

C.  H.  Harrison,  of  111.  W.  H.  Baker,  of  N.  Y. 

W.  J.  O'Brien,  of  Md.  J.  R.  Rainey,  of  S.  C. 

A.  S.  Williams,  of  Mich. 

Second  Session,  Forty-fourth  Congress. 
Senate  Com?nittee  on  Appropriations. 

W.  WiNDOM,  of  Minn.  Ja7nes  G.  Blaine,  of  Me. 

J.  R.  West,  of  La.  D.  G.  Davis,  of  W.  Va. 

A.  A.  Sargent,  of  Cal.  R.  E.  Withers,  of  Va. 

W.  B.  Allison,  of  Iowa.  W.  A.  Wallace,  of  Penn. 
S.  W.  DORSEY,  of  Ark. 

Senate  Committee  on  Naval  A  fairs. 
A.  H.  Cragin,  of  N.  H.  James  G.  Blaine,  of  Me. 

H.  B.  Anthony,  of  R.  I.  T.  M.  Norwood,  of  Ga. 

A.  A.  Sargent,  of  Cal.  W.  P.  Whyte,  of  Md. 

S.  B.  CoNOVER,  of  Fla. 


40  JAMES   G.    BLAINE. 

Forty-fifth  Congress. 
Committee  on  Appropriations. 
W.  WiNDOM,  of  Minn.  Jatnes  G.  Blaine,  of  Me. 

J.  R.  West,  of  La.  H.  G.  Davis,  of  W.  Va. 

A.  A.  Sargent,  of  Cal.  R.  E.  Withers,  of  Va, 

W.  B.  Allison,  of  Iowa.  W.  A.  Wallace,  of  Penn. 

S.  W.  DORSEY,  of  Ark.  J.  B.  Beck,  of  Ky. 

Committee  on  Naval  Affairs. 

A.  A.  Sargent,  of  CaL  W.  P.  Whyte,  of  Md. 

H.  B.  Anthony,  of  K  L  J.  R  McPherson,  of  N.  J. 

S.  B.  CoNOVER,  of  Fla.  C  W.  Jones,  of  Fla. 

James  G.  Blaine,  of  Me. 

Committee  on  Rules. 
James  G.  Blaine,  of  Me.  A  S.  Merrimon,  of  N.  C. 

T.  W.  Ferry,  of  Mich. 

Select  Committee  of  the  Senate. 

B.  K  Bruce,  of  Miss.  L  G.  Harris,  of  Tenn. 
Jatnes  G.  Blaine,  of  Me.  A.  CAMERON,  of  Wis. 
W.  P.  Kellogg,  of  La.  T.  B.  Eustis,  of  La. 

F.  M.  COCKRELL,  of  Mo. 

First  Session,  Forty-sixth  Congress. 
Committee  on  Appropriations. 
H.  G.  Davis,  of  W,  Va.  W.  Windom,  of  Minn. 

R  C.  Withers,  of  Va.  W.  B.  Allison,  of  Iowa. 

J.  B,  Beck,  of  Ky.  James  G.  Blaine,  of  Me. 

W.  A  Wallace,  of  Penn.  N.  Booth,  of  Cal. 

W.  W.  Eaton,  of  Conn. 

Committee  on  Naval  Affairs. 
J.  R.  McPherson,  of  N.  J.  H.  B.  Anthony,  of  R.  L 

W.  P.  Whyte,  of  Md.  James  G.  Blaine,  of  Me. 

C.  W.  Jones,  of  Fla,  J.  D.  Cameron,  of  Penn. 
Z.  B.  Vance,  of  N.  C  Z.  Chandler,  of  Mich. 
J.  T.  Farley,  CaL 

Committee  on  Rules. 
J.  T.  Morgan,  of  Ala.  Jam^es  G.  Blaine,  of  Me, 

F.  M.  COCKRELL,  of  Mo. 


IN  CONGRESS.  41 

Select  Committee  on  the  Mississippi  River. 
L.  Q.  Lamar,  of  Miss.  B.  F.  Jonas,  of  La. 

F.  M.  CoCKRELL,  of  Mo.  James  G.  Blaine,  of  Me, 

I.  G.  Harris,  of  Tenn.  W.  P.  Kellogg,  of  La. 

Second  Session,  Forty-sixth  Congress. 
Committee  on  Appropriations. 
H.  G.  Davis,  of  W.  Va.  W.  Windom,  of  Minn. 

R.  C.  Withers,  of  Va.  W.  B.  Allison,  of  Iowa, 

J.  B.  Beck,  of  Ky.  Jatnes  G.  Blaine,  of  Me. 

W.  A.  Wallace,  of  Penn.  N.  Booth,  of  Cal. 

W.  W.  Eaton,  of  Conn. 

Committee  on  Naval  Affairs. 
J.  R.  McPherson,  of  N.  J.  H.  B.  Anthony,  of  R.  L 

W.  P.  Whyte,  of  Md.  James  G.  Blaine,  of  Me. 

C.  W.  Jones,  of  Fla.  J.  D.  Cameron,  of  Penn. 

Z.  R  Vance,  of  N.  C.  Z.  Chandler,  of  Mich. 

J.  T.  Farley,  of  Cal. 

Committee  on  Rules. 
Morgan,  of  Ala.  James  G.  Blaine,  of  Me. 

,  Cockrell,  of  Mo. 

Select  Committee  on  the  Mississippi  River. 
Lamar,  of  Miss.  James  G.  Blaine,  of  Me. 

,  Cockrell,  of  Mo.  W.  P.  Kellogg,  of  La. 

J.  G.  Harris,  of  Tenn.  B.  K  Bruce,  of  Miss. 

B.  F.  Jonas,  of  La. 

Third  Session,  Forty-sixth  Congress. 
Committee  on  Appropriations. 
H.  G.  Davis,  of  W.  Va.  W.  Windom,  of  Minn. 

R.  C.  Withers,  of  Va.  W.  B.  Allison,  of  Iowa. 

J.  B.  Beck,  of  Ky.  James  G.  Blaine,  of  Me. 

W.  A.  Wallace,  of  Penn.  N.  Booth,  of  Cal. 

W.  W.  Eaton,  of  Conn. 

Committee  oti  N'aval  Affairs. 
J.  R.  McPherson,  of  N.  J.  H.  B.  Anthony,  of  R.  I. 

W.  P.  Whyte,  of  Md.  James  G.  Blaine,  of  Me. 

C.  W.  Jones,  of  Fla.  J.  D.  Cameron,  of  Penn. 
Z.  B.  Vance,  of  N.  C.                     T.  W.  Ferry,  of  Mich. 
S.  T.  Farley,  of  Cal. 


J- 

T. 

F. 

M. 

L. 

Q. 

F. 

M. 

42  JAMES   G.    BLAINE. 

Co?ninittee  oit  Rules. 
J.  T.  Morgan,  of  Ala.  W.  A.  Wallace,  of  Penn. 

F.  M.  CocKRELL,  of  Mo.  G.  F.  Edmunds,  of  Vt. 

Jaines  G.  Blaine,  of  Me. 

Committee  07t  the  Mississippi  River. 
L.  Q.  Lamar,  of  Miss.  B.  F.  Jonas,  of  La. 

F.  M.  CocKRELL,  of  Mo.  Ja?nes    G.  Blaine,  of  Me. 
I.  G.  Harris,  of  Tenn.  W.  P.  Kellogg,  of  La. 

Select  Committee  on  the  Bill  (^S.  227)  to  provide  that  the  principal  Offi- 
cer of  each  of  the  Executive  Departments  may  occupy  a  Seat  on 
the  Floor  of  the  Senate  and  the  House. 

G.  H.  Pendleton,  of  O.  R.  Conkling,  of  N.  Y. 
D.  W.  Voorhees,  of  Ind.                  W.  B.  Allison,  of  Iowa. 
T.  F.  Bayard,  of  Del.                         Jajnes  G.  Blaine,  of  Me. 
AL  C.  Butler,  of  S.  C.                       J.  J.  Ingalls,  of  Kan. 

J.  T.  Farley,  of  Cal.  O.  H.  Platt,  of  Conn. 

It  has  been  thought  convenient  to  set  forth  elsewhere, 
under  separate  heads,  Mr.  Blaine's  position  on  the  larger 
issues  which  have  engaged  the  attention  of  Congress 
during  the  past  twenty  years,  and  in  these  the  major 
part  of  his  congressional  history  will  be  found.  Some 
connected  record  of  his  more  important  acts  during  his 
stay  in  the  House  may,  however,  be  made  with  advan- 
tage. 

It  will  be  seen  that  in  the  Thirty-ninth  Congress  he 
w^as  Chairman  of  the  Committee  on  the  War  Debts 
of  the  Loyal  States.  The  subject  engaged  his  best 
energies,  and  his  first  distinction  as  a  speaker  was  won 
in  a  speech  upon  it,  in  which  he  contended  that  it  was 
the  duty  of  the  General  Government  to  assume  these 
debts,  and  maintained  the  ability  of  the  North  to  carry 
on  the  war,  then  in    progress.     The    speech  attracted 


IN  CONGRESS,  43 

wide  attention  and  in  the  Presidential  election  of  1864 
was  used  as  a  campaign  document.  When  the  war  was 
done  he  returned  to  the  matter  and  reported  a  bill  for 
the  payment  to  the  States  of  fifty-five  dollars  for  each 
soldier  sent  by  them  into  the  field. 

In  1864,  he  offered  a  resolution  to  the  following  effect : 

'■^Resolved,  That  the  Judiciary  Committee  be  directed 
to  inquire  into  the  expediency  of  proposing  an  amend- 
ment to  the  Constitution  of  the  United  States,  by  strik- 
ing out  the  fifth  clause  of  section  nine,  article  one, 
which  forbids  the  levying  of  a  tax  on  articles  exported 
from  any  State." 

He  was  one  of  the  most  active  members  of  the  House 
in  framing  the  important  Reconstruction  acts  which  for 
several  years  following  the  war  engrossed  almost  the 
entire  attention  of  Congress. 

On  January  22,  1866,  Mr.  Fessenden,  of  the  Senate, 
and  Mr.  Stevens,  of  the  House  of  Representatives, 
brought  before  those  bodies  a  partial  report  from  com- 
mittee, recommending  the  passage  of  the  following  joint 
resolution  : 

"That  the  following  article  be  proposed  to  the  Legis- 
latures of  the  several  States  as  an  amendment  to  the  Con- 
stitution of  the  United  States,  which,  when  ratified  by 
three-fourths  of  the  said  Legislatures,  shall  be  valid  as 
part  of  said  Constitution,  namely  : 

'■'■  ^Article  — .  Representatives  and  direct  taxes  shall 
be  apportioned  among  the  several  States  which  may  be 
included  within  this  Union  according  to  their  respective 


44  JAMES   G.    BLAINE. 

numbers,  counting  the  whole  number  of  persons  in  each 
State,  excluding  Indians  not  taxed :  Provided,  That 
whenever  the  elective  franchise  shall  be  denied  or 
abridged  in  any  State  on  account  of  race  or  color,  all 
persons  of  such  race  or  color  shall  be  excluded  from  the 
basis  of  representation.' " 

Mr.  Blaine  addressed  the  House,  detailing  some  objec- 
tions to  the  measure.  He  said  :  ''While  I  shall  vote  for 
the  proposition,  I  shall  do  so  with  some  reluctance  un- 
less it  is  amended,  and  I  do  not  regret,  therefore,  that 
the  previous  question  was  not  sustained.  I  am  egotistic 
enough  to  believe  that  the  phraseology  of  the  original 
resolution,  as  introduced  by  me,  was  better  than  that 
employed  in  the  pending  amendment.  The  phrase  '  civil 
or  political  rights  or  privileges,'  which  I  employed,  is 
broader  and  more  comprehensive  than  the  term  *  elec- 
tive franchise,'  for  I  fear,  with  the  gentleman  from  Illi- 
nois [Mr.  Farnsworth],  that  under  the  latter  phrase  the 
most  vicious  evasions  might  be  practised.  As  that  gen- 
tleman has  well  said,  they  might  make  suffrage  depend 
on  ownership  of  fifty  acres  of  land,  and  then  prohibit 
any  negro  from  holding  real  estate  ;  but  no  such  mock- 
ery as  this  could  be  perpetrated  under  the  provisions  of 
the  amendment  as  I  originally  submitted  it." 

In  relation  to  taxation,  Mr.  Blaine  remarked  :  "Now 
I  contend  that  ordinary  fair  play — and  certainly  we  can 
afford  fair  play  where  it  does  not  cost  anything — calls 
for  this,  namely,  that  if  we  exclude  them  from  the  basis 
of  representation  they  should  be  excluded  from  the  basis 


IN  CONGRESS,  45 

of  taxation.  Ever  since  this  Government  was  founded, 
representation  and  taxation  iiave  gone  hand  in  liand.  If 
we  shall  exclude  the  principle  in  this  amendment,  we 
will  be  accused  of  a  narrow,  illiberal,  mean-spirited,  and 
money-grasping  policy.  More  than  that,  w^e  do  not  gain 
anything  by  it.  What  kind  of  taxation  is  distributed 
according  to  representation  ?  Direct  taxation.  Now,  we 
do  not  have  any  direct  taxation.  There  have  been  but 
twenty  millions  of  direct  taxation  levied  for  the  last  fifty 
years.  That  tax  was  levied  in  1861,  and  was  not  col- 
lected, but  distributed  among  the  States  and  held  in  the 
Treasury  Department  as  an  offset  to  the  war  claims  of 
the  States  ;  so  that,  as  a  matter  of  fact,  we  are  putting 
an  offensive  discrimination  in  this  proposition  and  gain- 
ing nothing  for  it  except  obloquy." 

On  July  12,  1867,  Congress  having  under  considera- 
tion the  government  of  the  insurrectionary  States,  he 
made  a  most  important  addition  to  the  Fourteenth 
Amendment,  which  was  generally  discussed  as  "  Blaine's 
Amendment "  and  was  finally  adopted  in  substance.  He 
said : 

'*My  purpose  in  taking  the  floor  at  this  time  is  to  say 
very  briefly  that  whether  amended  or  not  I  shall  vote 
for  this  bill ;  but  at  the  same  time  to  express  the  earn- 
est hope  that  it  may  be  amended  in  one  important 
feature.  I  hold  in  my  hand  a  provision  which  I  trust 
may  be  incorporated  in  it,  and  I  appeal  to  my  distin- 
guished and  venerable  friend  from  Pennsylvania  [Mr. 
Stevens]  to  allow  us  at  least  the  privilege  of  a  vote  upon 


46  JAMES    G.    BLAINE. 

it.  I  propose  it  as  an  additional  section  to  the  pending 
bill,  and  I  ask  the  attention  of  the  House  while  I  read 
it,  as  follows : 

"'Sec. — .  And  be  it  further  enacted,  that  when  the 
constitutional  amendment  proposed  as  article  fourteenth 
by  the  Thirty-ninth  Congress  shall  have  become  a  part  of 
the  Constitution  of  the  United  States  by  the  ratification 
of  three-fourths  of  the  States  now  represented  in  Con- 
gress, and  when  any  one  of  the  late  so-called  Confeder- 
ate States  shall  have  given  its  assent  to  the  same  and  con- 
formed its  constitution  and  laws  thereto  in  all  respects ; 
and  when  it  shall  have  provided  by  its  constitution  that 
the  elective  franchise  shall  be  enjoyed  equally  and  im- 
partially by  all  male  citizens  of  the  United  States, 
twenty-one  years  old  and  upward,  without  regard  to 
race,  color,  or  previous  condition  of  servitude,  except 
such  as  may  be  disfranchised  for  participating  in  the 
late  rebellion  ;  and  when  said  constitution  shall  have 
been  submitted  to  the  voters  of  said  State,  as  thus  de- 
fined, for  ratification  or  rejection  ;  and  when  the  consti- 
tution, if  ratified  by  the  popular  vote,  shall  have  been 
submitted  to  Congress  for  examination  and  approval, 
said  State  shall,  if  its  constitution  be  approved  by  Con- 
gress, be  declared  entitled  to  representation  in  Congress, 
and  Senators  and  Representatives  shall  be  admitted 
therefrom  on  their  taking  the  oath  prescribed  by  law, 
and  then  and  thereafter  the  preceding  sections  of  this 
bill  shall  be  inoperative  in  said  State.' 

**Now,  1  ask,  what  more  does  the  bill  passed  to-day  in 


I  A'    CONGRESS.  47 

regard  to  the  civil  government  of  Louisiana  demand  of 
that  State  than  this  demands  of  all  the  States  ?  That 
applies  to  only  one  State  ;  you  have  said  nothing  of  the 
kind  to  the  other  nine ;  you  propose  no  civil  govern- 
ment for  them.  You  do  not  know  what  may  be  the 
result  of  tha^bill.  If  you  incorporate  this  amendment 
in  this  bill  and  send  it  to  the  Senate,  whichever  bill  the 
Senate  may  adopt  we  shall  have  achieved  something  as 
a  basis  of  reconstruction,  and  we  bring  Congress  up  to 
the  declaration  of  making  equal  suffrage  a  condition 
precedent  to  admission.  We  have  never  done  that  yet, 
and  for  lack  of  that  declaration  we  are  weak  before  the 
country  to-day. 

"  It  happened,  Mr.  Speaker,  possibly  by  mere  accident, 
that  I  was  the  first  member  of  this  House  who  spoke 
in  Committee  of  the  Whole  on  the  President's  message 
at  the  opening  of  this  session.  I  then  stated  that  I 
believed  the  true  interpretation  of  the  elections  of  1866 
was  that,  in  addition  to  the  proposed  constitutional 
amendment,  universal,  or  at  least  impartial  suffrage 
should  be  the  basis  of  restoration.  Why  not  declare  it 
so  ?  Why  not,  when  you  send  out  this  military  police 
authority  to  the  lately  rebellious  States,  send  with  it  that 
impressive  declaration  ?  This  amendment  does  not  in 
the  least  conflict  with  the  bill  for  the  civil  government 
of  Louisiana  which  we  passed  to-day.  It  need  not  con- 
flict with  any  enabling  act  you  may  pass  in  regard  to 
the  other  nine  States.  If  you  choose  you  may  follow 
up  this  action  at  the  opening  of  the  Fortieth  Congress 


48  JAMES    G.    BLAINE. 

by  passing  enabling  acts  for  the  other  nine  States.  A 
declaration  of  this  kind  attached  to  this  bill  will,  it 
seems  to  me,  have  great  weight  and  peculiar  signifi- 
cance. It  announces  to  these  States  what  it  is  im- 
portant for  them  to  know,  and  what  alone  the  Congress 
of  the  United  States  can  authoritatively  declare. 

"  In  the  first  place,  it  specifically  declares  the  doc- 
trine that  three-fourths  of  the  States  represented  in 
Congress  have  the  power  to  adopt  the  constitutional 
amendment,  and  it  does  not  even  by  implication  give 
them  to  understand  that  their  assent  or  ratification  is 
necessary  to  its  becoming  a  part  of  the  Constitution. 
It  implies  that  their  assent  to  it  is  a  qualification  for 
themselves  ;  merely  an  evidence,  both  moral  and  legal, 
of  good  faith  and  loyalty  on  their  part.  We  specially 
provide  against  their  drawing  the  slightest  inference 
in  favor  of  their  being  a  party  in  any  degree  essential 
to  the  valid  ratification  of  that  amendment." 

On  the  motion  to  strike  Florida  from  the  Reconstruc- 
tion bill  he  voted  nay.  In  1868  he  voted  for  the  bill 
to  continue  the  Bureau  for  the  Relief  of  the  Freedmen 
and  Refugees.  He  favored  the  impeachment  of  Pres- 
ident Johnson.  When  Secretary  Stanton  was  assailed 
by  the  party  opposed  to  Reconstruction,  he  joined  in 
Senator  Edmunds'  vote  of  thanks  and  confidence  to 
him.  From  the  opening  of  the  rebellion  he  had  been 
the  faithful  champion  of  the  Union  on  the  floor  of  the 
House.  When  others  doubted,  he  was  hopeful ;  when 
others  failed,  he  was  stanch  ;  and  when  the  war  w^as 


IN  CONGRESS.  49 

ended,  he  was  chief  among  those  who  strove  by  judi- 
cious and  pacific  measures  to  bind  the  broken  Union 
together. 

The  high  position  which  Mr.  Blaine  had  won  in  the 
House  has  been  elsewhere  touched  upon,  as  well  as  his 
general  popularity  among   his  associates.     They  were 
now  to  give  him  the  highest  proof  of  their  esteem. 
4 


VI. 

SPEAKER  OF  THE  HOUSE  AND  SENATOR. 

Mr.  Blaine  had  served  six  years  in  Congress  and  was 
still  a  young  man,  having  only  reached  the  age  of  thirty- 
nine,  when  he  was  chosen  Speaker  of  the  House  by  a 
highly  complimentary  vote,  the  ballot  standing  57  for 
Mr.  Michael  C.  Kerr,  of  Indiana,  and  135  for  Mr.  Blaine. 
The  new  Speaker  was  accompanied  to  the  chair  by 
Messrs.  Dawes  and  Kerr,  and  said  : 

"  Gentlemen  of  the  House  of  Representatives  : 

''  I  thank  you  profoundly  for  the  great  honor  which 
your  votes  have  just  conferred  upon  me.  The  gratifi- 
cation which  this  signal  mark  of  your  confidence  brings 
to  me  finds  its  only  drawback  in  the  diffidence  with 
which  I  assume  the  weighty  duties  devolved  upon  me. 

"  Succeeding  to  a  chair  made  illustrious  by  the  services 
of  such  eminent  statesmen  and  skilled  parliamentarians 
as  Clay,  and  Stevenson,  and  Polk,  and  Winthrop,  and 
Banks,  and  Grow,  and  Colfax,  I  may  well  distrust  my 
ability  to  meet  the  just  expectations  of  those  who  have 


SPEAKER  OF  THE  HOUSE  AND  SENATOR.         5 1 

shown  me  such  marked  partiality  ;  but  relying,  gentle- 
men, on  my  honest  purpose  to  perform  all  my  duties 
faithfully  and  fearlessly,  and  trusting  in  a  large  measure 
to  the  indulgence  which  I  am  sure  you  will  always 
extend  to  me,  I  shall  hope  to  retain,  as  I  have  secured, 
your  confidence,  your  kindly  aid,  and  your  generous 
support." 

Nothing  that  could  be  said  of  his  public  career  would 
meet  with  readier  assent  from  both  his  enemies  and 
his  friends  than  the  statement  that  he  was  one  of  the 
best  equipped  men  for  the  position  who  have  sat  in 
the  Speaker's  chair.  This,  in  the  long  space  during 
which  he  presided  over  the  deliberations  of  the  House, 
was  not  denied  on  any  hand,  and  even  his  Democratic 
opponents  yielded  their  admiration  to  his  discharge 
of  the  difficult  duties  of  presiding  officer.  His  least 
reasonable  detractors  have  always  admitted  his  eminent 
fitness  for  the  post,  and  a  writer  in  a  newspaper,  pro- 
fessedly opposed  to  Mr.  Blaine,  speaking  after  the 
nomination,  says  of  his  bearing  as  Speaker :  **  His 
quickness,  his  thorough  knowledge  of  parliamentary 
law  and  of  the  rules,  his  firmness,  clear  voice,  and  im- 
pressive manner,  his  ready  comprehension  of  subjects 
and  situations,  and  his  dash  and  brilliancy  have  been 
widely  recognized,  and  really  made  him  a  great  presid- 
ing officer."  And  a  contemporary  account  says  :  "  Mr. 
Speaker  is  really  wonderful  for  despatch  of  business. 
Red  tape  is  not  to  his  notion,  and  he  has  an  admirable 
faculty  for  cutting  corners  and  knocking  away  obstruc- 


52  JAMES    G.    BLAINE. 

tions,  SO  that  the  House  may  go  by  the  most  direct  route 
to  the  end  it  is  seeking."  Elsewhere  it  is  added  :  ''It 
has  been  said  that  no  man  since  Clay's  speakership  pre- 
sided with  such  an  absolute  knowledge  of  the  rules  of 
the  House  and  with  so  great  a  mastery  in  the  rapid,  in- 
telligent, and  faithful  discharge  of  business.  His  knowl- 
edge of  parliamentary  law  was  instinctive  and  complete, 
and  his  administration  of  it  so  fair  that  both  sides  of  the 
House  united  at  the  close  of  each  Congress  in  cordial 
thanks  for  his  impartiality." 

The  high  place  in  the  esteem  of  his  associates  which 
his  labors  in  this  office  won  him  is  best  exhibited  by 
the  fact  that  he  w^as  re-elected  without  opposition  from 
his  own  party  Speaker  of  the  XLIId  and  XLHId 
Congresses.  This  warm  approval  had  its  highest  ex- 
pression, however,  in  a  scene  said  to  be  without  par- 
allel in  the  history  of  Congress.  It  occurred  at  the 
end  of  his  third  term  as  Speaker,  when  on  March  5, 
1875,  he  brought  the  second  session  of  the  XLIIId 
Congress  to  a  close  with  the  following  brief  address  : 

"Gentlemen  :  I  close  with  this  hour  a  six-years'  ser_ 
vice  as  Speaker  of  the  House  of  Representatives — a 
period  surpassed  in  length  by  but  two  of  my  predeces- 
sors and  equalled  by  only  two  others.  The  rapid  muta- 
tions of  personal  and  political  fortune  in  this  country 
have  limited  the  great  majority  of  those  who  have  sat  in 
this  chair  to  shorter  terms  of  office. 

"  It  would  be  the  gravest  insensibility  to  the  honors  and 
responsibilities  of  life  not  to  be  deeply  touched  by  so 


SPEAKER  OF  THE  HOUSE  AND  SENATOR.         SI 

signal  a  mark  of  public  esteem  as  that  which  I  have 
thrice  received  at  the  hands  of  my  political  associates. 
I  desire  in  this  last  moment  to  renew  to  them,  one  and 
all,  my  thanks  and  my  gratitude. 

"  To  those  from  whom  I  differ  in  my  party  relations — 
the  minority  in  this  House — I  tender  my  acknowledg- 
ments for  the  generous  courtesy  with  which  they  have 
treated  me.  By  one  of  those  sudden  and  decisive 
changes  which  distinguish  popular  institutions  and 
which  conspicuously  mark  a  free  people,  that  minority 
is  transformed  in  the  ensuing  Congress  to  the  governing 
power  of  the  House.  However  it  might  possibly  have 
been  under  other  circumstances,  that  event  necessarily 
renders  these  words  my  farewell  to  the  chair. 

*'The  Speakership  of  the  House  of  Representatives  is 
a  post  of  honor,  of  dignity,  of  power,  of  responsibility. 
Its  duties  are  at  once  complex  and  continuous  ;  they 
are  both  onerous  and  delicate  ;  they  are  performed  in 
the  broad  light  of  day  under  the  eye  of  the  whole  peo- 
ple, subject  at  all  times  to  the  closest  observation,  and 
always  attended  with  the  sharpest  criticism.  I  think  no 
other  official  is  held  to  such  rigid  accountability.  Par- 
liamentary rulings  in  their  very  nature  are  peremp- 
tory, almost  absolute  in  authority  and  instantaneous  in 
effect.  They  cannot  always  be  enforced  in  such  a  way 
as  to  win  applause  or  secure  popularity,  but  I  am  sure 
that  no  man  of  any  party  who  is  worthy  to  fill  this 
chair  will  ever  see  a  dividing  line  between  duty  and 
policy. 


54  JAMES   G.  BLAINE. 

**  Thanking  you  once  more,  and  thanking  you  most 
cordially  for  the  honorable  testimonial  you  have  placed 
on  record  to  my  credit,  I  perform  my  only  remaining 
duty  in  declaring  that  the  XLIIId  Congress  has  reached 
its  constitutional  limit,  and  that  the  House  of  Repre- 
sentatives stands  adjourned  without  day." 

A  newspaper  of  the  day  adds  :  "  As  the  Speaker  closed 
his  address  and  walked  down  from  the  chair,  an  out- 
burst of  hand  clapping  and  cheers  broke  from  the  up- 
standing members,  and  was  joined  in  by  the  immense 
assemblage  on  the  floor  and  in  the  galleries.  Never 
before  was  witnessed  such  a  scene  at  the  close  of  a 
Congress." 

Mr.  Blaine  was  not  only  technically  an  admirable 
presiding  officer,  but  during  the  course  of  his  adminis- 
tration, so  far  as  consistent  with  his  function,  threw  his 
weight  in  favor  of  economy,  of  hard  money,  and  of  clean 
public  service.  One  of  the  most  notable  instances  of 
this  conscientious  use  of  his  office  on  its  moral  side 
was  his  refusal  to  accept  the  increased  salary  which  the 
well-known  Salary  bill  provided  for  the  Speaker.  Jan- 
uary 31,  1873,  the  House  then  considering  the  bill  for 
the  increase  of  the  salary  of  the  President,  Congress- 
men, and  others,  the  Speaker  asked  permission  to  make 
a  personal  statement  and  said  : 

*'  The  Chair  now  desires  to  make  a  statement  per- 
sonal to  himself.  In  reading  the  bill  the  Chair  pre- 
sumes the  language  of  this  amendment  would  make  the 
Speaker's  salary  J  10,000  for  this  Congress.     The  salary 


SPEAKER  OF  THE  HOUSE  AND  SENATOR.         55 

of  the  Speaker,  the  last  time  the  question  of  pay  was 
under  consideration,  was  adjusted  to  that  of  the  Vice- 
President  and  members  of  the  Cabinet.  The  Chair 
thinks  that  adjustment  should  not  be  disturbed,  and  the 
question  which  he  now  raises  does  not  affect  the  pay  of 
other  members  of  the  House.  He  asks  unanimous 
consent  to  put  in  the  word  'hereafter,'  to  follow  the 
words  'shall  receive.'  This  will  affect  whoever  shall 
be  speaker  of  the  House  of  Representatives  hereafter, 
and  does  not  affect  the  speaker  of  this  House,  but 
leaves  him  upon  the  same  plane  with  the  Vice-President 
and  Cabinet  officers,  upon  the  salary  as  before  ad- 
justed." 

To  the  Speaker's  proposition  considerable  opposition 
was  manifested,  but  by  his  rulings  Mr.  Blaine  sustained 
his  intention.  At  the  next  session  the  bill  was  repealed 
in  spite  of  the  forces  arrayed  against  it.  The  two  sides 
were  so  evenly  matched  that  when  a  question  of  adjourn- 
ment arose,  proposed  to  defeat  the  repeal,  it  was  nega- 
tived by  the  deciding  vote  of  the  Speaker. 

When  the  democratic  "tidal  wave"  of  1874  swept 
over  the  country,  the  Republicans  lost  their  majority  in 
the  House  and  Mr.  Blaine  returned  to  the  floor.  The 
prestige  won  as  Speaker  gave  him  an  especial  eminence, 
and  he  added  to  his  early  reputation  as  a  debater  by  his 
fresh  and  vigorous  speeches.  He  was  as  before  looked 
up  to  as  the  party  leader  in  the  House,  and  began  to 
stand  in  the  minds  of  Republicans  far  from  Washington 
as  among  the  foremost  men  of  his  political  faith.     His 


56  JAMES   G.    BLAINE. 

adroitness,  his  swiftness  to  take  advantage  of  every 
point  which  could  honestly  help  forward  the  measures 
which  he  urged,  his  dexterous  exposure  of  the  weakness 
of  his  opponent's  arguments,  above  all  his  assured  com- 
mand of  the  principles  of  parliamentary  law,  rendered 
him  one  of  the  strongest  among  those  who  have  led  po- 
litical parties. 

Among  the  last  measures  urged  by  Mr.  Blaine  in  the 
House  was  the  adoption  of  the  following  amendment 
to  the  Constitution  : 

**  No  State  shall  make  any  law  respecting  an  estab- 
lishment of  religion,  or  prohibiting  the  free  exercise 
thereof  ;  and  no  money  raised  by  taxation  in  any  State 
for  the  support  of  public  schools,  or  derived  from  any 
public  fund  therefor,  nor  any  public  lands  devoted 
thereto,  shall  ever  be  under  the  control  of  any  religious 
sect  ;  nor  shall  any  money  so  raised  or  lands  so  de- 
voted be  divided  between  religious  sects  or  denomina- 
tions." 

This  was  lost  among  several  other  amendments  of 
different  purport  offered  at  the  same  time,  among  which 
was  that  providing  that  ''  no  person  who  has  held,  or 
may  hereafter  hold,  the  office  of  President  shall  ever 
again  be  eligible  to  said  office." 

At  about  the  time  this  amendment  was  proposed  he 
took  occasion  to  write  a  strong  letter  in  favor  of  it, 
which  contains  so  sound  an  argument  that  the  reader 
must  be  put  into  possession  of  it.  Writing  of  the  elec- 
tion in  Ohio  to  a  prominent  citizen  of  that  State  he  said  : 


SPEAKER  OF  THE  HOUSE  AND  SENATOR.         S7 

"Augusta,  Me.,  October  20,  1875. 

"  My  Dear  Sir  :  The  public-school  agitation  in  your 
late  campaign  is  liable  to  break  out  elsewhere,  and  oc- 
curring first  in  one  State  and  then  in  another,  may  keep 
the  whole  country  in  a  ferment  for  years  to  come.  This 
inevitably  arouses  sectarian  feeling  and  leads  to  that 
bitterest  and  most  deplorable  of  all  strifes,  the  strife  be- 
tween religious  denominations.  It  seems  to  me  that 
this  question  ought  to  be  settled  in  some  definite  and 
comprehensive  way,  and  the  only  settlement  that  can  be 
final  is  the  complete  victory  for  non-sectarian  schools.  I 
am  sure  this  will  be  demanded  by  the  American  people 
at  all  hazards,  and  at  any  cost. 

*'  The  dread  of  sectarian  legislation  in  this  country  has 
been  felt  many  times  in  the  past.  It  began  very  early. 
The  first  amendment  to  the  Constitution,  the  joint  pro- 
duction of  Jefferson  and  Madison,  proposed  in  1789,  de- 
clared that  '  Congress  shall  make  no  law  respecting  an 
establishment  of  religion,  nor  prohibiting  the  free  exer- 
cise thereof.'  At  that  time,  when  the  powers  of  the  Fed- 
eral Government  were  untried  and  developed,  the  fear 
was  that  Congress  might  be  the  source  of  danger  to 
perfect  religious  liberty,  and  hence  all  power  was  taken 
away  from  it.  At  the  same  time  the  States  were  left 
free  to  do  as  they  pleased  in  regard  to  'an  establish- 
ment of  religion,'  for  the  tenth  amendment  proposed 
by  that  eminent  jurist,  Theophilus  Parsons,  and  adopted 
contemporaneously  with  the  first,  declared  that  '  all 
powers  not  delegated  to  the  United  States  by  the  Con- 


58  JAMES   G.   BLAINE. 

stitution,  nor  prohibited  by  it  to  the  States,  are  reserved 
to  the  States  respectively,  or  to  the  people.' 

**  A  majority  of  the  people  in  any  State  in  this  Union 
can,  therefore,  if  they  desire  it,  have  an  established 
Church,  under  which  the  minority  may  be  taxed  for  ' 
the  erection  of  church-edifices  which  they  never  enter, 
and  for  the  support  of  which  they  do  not  believe.  This 
power  was  actually  exercised  in  some  of  the  States  long 
after  the  adoption  of  the  Federal  Constitution,  and,  al- 
though there  may  be  no  positive  danger  of  its  revival 
in  the  future,  the  possibility  of  it  should  not  be  per- 
mitted. The  auspicious  time  to  guard  against  an  evil 
is  when  all  will  unite  in  preventing  it. 

''And  in  curing  this  constitutional  defect  all  possi- 
bility of  hurtful  agitation  on  the  school  question  should 
be  ended  also.  Just  let  the  old  Jefferson-Madison  amend- 
ment be  applied  to  the  States  by  adding  the  following 
to  the  inhibitory  clauses  in  section  lo,  article  i,  of  the 
Federal  Constitution,  viz.  : 

" '  No  State  shall  make  any  law  respecting  an  establish- 
ment of  religion,  or  prohibiting  the  free  exercise  there- 
of ;  and  no  money  raised  by  taxation  in  any  State,  for 
the  support  of  the  public  schools  or  derived  from  any 
public  fund  therefor,  shall  ever  be  under  the  control  of 
any  religious  sect,  nor  shall  any  money  so  raised  ever 
be  divided  between  religious  sects  or  denominations.* 

*'  This,  you  will  observe,  does  not  interfere  with  any 
State  having  just  such  a  school  system  as  its  citizens 
may  prefer,  subject  to  the  single  and  simple  restriction 


SPEAKER  OF  THE  HOUSE  AND  SENATOR.         59 

that  the  schools  shall  not  be  made  the  arena  for  sec- 
tarian controversy  or  theological  disputation.  This  ad- 
justment, it  seems  to  me,  would  be  comprehensive  and 
conclusive,  and  would  be  fair  alike  to  Protestant  and 
Catholic,  to  Jew  and  Gentile,  leaving  the  religious  faith 
and  the  conscience  of  every  man  free  and  unmolested. 
'*  Very  sincerely  yours,  J.  G.  Blaine." 

Lot  M.  Morrill,  for  many  years  Senator  from  Maine, 
resigned  in  June,  1876,  to  accept  the  portfolio  of  the 
Treasury,  and  the  Governor  of  Maine  immediatel)r  ap- 
pointed Mr.  Blaine  to  fill  the  unexpired  term.  He  ac- 
cepted, July  loth,  and  was  duly  installed,  when  he  wrote 
to  his  constituents  : 

"  Beginning  with  1862  you  have,  by  continuous  elec- 
tions, sent  me  as  your  representative  to  the  Congress  of 
the  United  States.  For  such  marked  confidence  I  have 
endeavored  to  return  the  most  zealous  and  devoted  ser- 
vice in  my  power,  and  it  is  certainly  not  without  a  feel- 
ing of  pain  that  I  now  surrender  a  trust  by  which  I 
have  always  felt  so  signally  honored.  It  has  been  my 
boast,  in  public  and  in  private,  that  no  man  on  the  floor 
of  Congress  ever  represented  a  constituency  more  distin- 
guished for  intelligence,  for  patriotism,  for  public  and 
personal  virtue.  The  cordial  support  you  have  so  uni- 
formly given  me  through  these  fourteen  eventful  years 
is  the  chief  honor  of  my  life.  In  closing  the  intimate 
relations  I  have  so  long  held  with  the  people  of  this 
district  it  is  a  great  satisfaction  to  me  to  know  that 


6o  JAMES   G.    BLAINE. 

with  returning  health  I  shall  enter  upon  a  field  of  duty 
in  "which  I  can  still  serv^e  them  in  common  with  the 
larger  constituency  of  which  they  form  a  part." 

The  Kennebec  Jour7ial  says  : 

''Fourteen  years  ago,  standing  in  the  convention  at 
which  he  was  first  nominated,  Mr.  Blaine  pledged  him- 
self to  use  his  best  services  for  the  district,  and  to  sup- 
port, to  the  best  of  his  ability,  the  policy  of  Abraham 
Lincoln  to  subdue  the  rebellion,  and  then  and  there  ex- 
pressed plainly  the  idea  that  slavery  must  and  ought  to 
be  abolished  to  save  the  Union.  That  he  has  kept  his 
pledge  faithfully  his  constituents  know  and  feel,  and  the 
records  of  Congress  attest.  To  this  district  his  abilities 
were  freely  given,  and  as  he  rose  in  honor  in  the  House 
and  in  the  public  estimation  he  reflected  honor  and 
gave  strength  to  the  constituency  that  supported  him. 
Every  step  he  made  in  advance  was  a  gain  for  them. 
It  was  a  grand  thing  for  this  district  to  have  as  its  Rep- 
resentative in  Congress  for  six  years  the  Speaker  of  the 
House,  filling  the  place  next  in  importance  to  that  of 
President  of  the  United  States,  with  matchless  ability. 
It  was  a  grander  thing  when  he  took  the  lead  of  the 
minority  in  the  House  last  December,  routed  the  Dem- 
ocratic majority,  and  drove  back  in  dismay  the  ex-Con- 
federates who  were  intending  and  expecting,  through 
the  advantage  they  had  already  gained,  to  grasp  the 
supreme  power  in  the  nation  and  wield  it  in  the  inter- 
est of  the  cause  of  secession  and  rebellion  revived.  For 
what  he  has  done  as  their  representative  in  Congress, 


SPEAKER  OF  THE  HOUSE  AND  SENATOR.        6 1 

never  will  this  Third  District  of  Maine  forget  to  honor 
the  name  of  James  G.  Blaine.  It  will  live  in  the  hearts 
of  this  people  even  as  the  name  of  Henry  Clay  is  still 
loved  by  the  people  of  his  old  district  in  Kentucky. 
His  position  in  national  affairs  immediately  gave  him 
a  place  among  his  new  associates  not  common  for  a 
young  man,  and  he  was  presently  one  of  the  most 
prominent  figures  in  the  Senate.  When  the  Legislature 
of  Maine  met  the  governor's  appointment  was  con- 
firmed, and  when  the  question  of  Maine's  representa- 
tion in  the  Senate  again  came  up  he  was  chosen  for  the 
full  term  ending  in  1883.  His  acts  in  the  Senate  are 
sufficiently  set  forth  elsewhere.  He  spent  five  years  as 
Senator,  and  only  resigned  his  position  in  i88i  to  ac- 
cept the  portfolio  of  State  in  Garfield's  Cabinet." 

EXTRA  SESSION  OF  1879  AND  THE  MAINE  ELECTION. 

Within  three  weeks  of  the  adjournment  of  the  regu- 
lar session  of  Congress,  March  4,  1879,  the  President,  it 
will  be  remembered,  called  an  extra  session.  A  demo- 
cratic majority  had  attempted  to  starve  the  Executive 
into  submission  to  their  wishes  by  refusing  to  make  the 
usual  appropriations  for  the  support  of  the  Govern- 
ment. It  was  an  unprecedented  act,  though  the  leaders 
in  it  endeavored  to  find  parallels  for  it.  Legislative 
"  riders,"  as  they  are  called,  were  not  new  ;  the  incor- 
poration of  legislation  in  appropriation  bills  was  not 
unknown.  But  an  attempt  like  this  to  force  the  compli- 
ance of  the  Executive  was  radically  novel,  and  involved 


62  JAMES   G.    BLAINE. 

the  most  disastrous  consequences.  It  was  an  occasion 
for  decisive  action,  and  the  President  lost  no  time  in 
calling  Congress  back  to  the  discharge  of  its  neg- 
lected duty.  Every  department  of  the  Government  had 
been  left  without  provision  for  its  continuance.  The 
money  which  kept  them  in  motion  and  which  Congress, 
after  more  or  less  debate  upon  the  amount,  had  been  ac- 
customed to  appropriate  to  their  maintenance  from  year 
to  year  was  wanting,  and  there  seemed  nothing  to  do 
but  to  close  the  doors. 

In  this  posture  of  affairs  the  President  was  in  need  of 
the  ablest  seconders  of  his  policy  in  Congress — men  who 
might  rouse  the  Opposition  to  a  sense  of  their  puerile 
error.  In  the  House  several  such  men  were  found,  but 
their  leader  was  Garfield.  In  the  Upper  House  the  as- 
sault was  led  by  Blaine.  Day  after  day,  with  a  company 
of  staunch  supporters,  he  exposed  the  folly  of  the  De- 
mocracy. He  arraigned  them  especially  for  their  effort 
to  use  a  false  issue  to  carry  through  the  measure  on 
which  they  had  conditioned  the  appropriations.  The 
speech  in  which  he  summed  up  the  charge  against  them 
is  one  of  the  most  cogent  and  striking  arguments  w^hich 
Mr.  Blaine  made  in  Congress,  and  so  much  of  it  as  space 
can  be  spared  for  must  be  given  here. 

The  Senate  having  under  consideration  the  bill  (H.  R.,  No.  i)  mak- 
ing appropriations  for  the  support  of  the  army  for  the  fiscal  year  ending 
June  30,  1880,  and  for  other  purposes — 

Mr.  Blaine  said  : 

"Mr.  President:  The  existing  section  of  the  Revised  Statutes  num- 
bered   2002  reads  thus  : 


SPEAKER  OF  THE  HOUSE  AND  SENATOR.        6^ 

"No  military  or  naval  officer,  or  other  person  engaged  in  the  civil, 
military,  or  naval  service  of  the  United  States,  shall  order,  bring,  keep, 
or  have  under  his  authority  or  control  any  troops,  or  armed  men,  at  the 
place  where  any  general  or  special  election  is  held  in  any  State,  unless 
it  be  necessary  to  repel  the  armed  enemies  of  the  United  States,  or  to 
keep  the  peace  at  the  polls. 

"  The  object  of  the  proposed  section  which  has  just  been  read  at  the 
Clerk's  desk,  is  to  get  rid  of  the  eight  closing  words,  '  or  to  keep  the 
peace  at  the  polls,'  and  therefore  the  mode  of  legislation  proposed  in 
the  Army  bill  now  before  the  Senate  is  an  unusual  mode  ;  it  is  an  extraor- 
dinary mode.  If  you  want  to  take  off  a  single  sentence  at  the  end  of  a 
section  in  tlie  Revised  Statutes,  the  ordinary  way  is  to  strike  off  those 
words  ;  but  the  mode  chosen  in  this  is  to  repeat  and  re-enact  the  whole 
section,  leaving  those  few  words  out.  While  I  do  not  wish  to  be  need- 
lessly suspicious  on  a  small  point,  I  am  quite  persuaded  that  this  did  not 
happen  by  accident,  but  that  it  came  by  design.  If  I  may  so  speak,  it 
came  of  cunning,  the  intent  being  to  create  the  impression  that,  whereas 
the  Republicans  in  the  administration  of  the  General  Government  had 
been  using  troops  right  and  left,  hither  and  thither,  in  every  direction, 
as  soon  as  the  Democrats  got  power  they  enacted  this  section.  I  can 
imagine  democratic  candidates  for  Congress  all  over  the  country  read- 
ing this  section  to  gaping  and  listening  audiences  as  one  of  the  first 
offsprings  of  democratic  reform,  whereas  every  word  of  it,  every  syllable 
of  it,  from  its  first  to  its  last,  is  the  enactment  of  a  republican  Con- 
gress. 

"  I  repeat  that  this  unusual  form  presents  a  dishonest  issue,  whether  so 
intended  or  not.  It  presents  the  issue  that,  as  soon  as  the  Democrats 
got  possession  of  the  Federal  Government  they  proceeded  to  enact  the 
clause  which  is  thus  expressed.  The  law  was  passed  by  a  republican 
Congress  in  1865.  There  were  forty-six  Senators  sitting  in  this  cham- 
ber at  that  time,  of  whom  only  ten,  or  at  most  eleven,  were  Democrats. 
The  House  of  Representatives  was  overwhelmingly  republican. 

"We  were  in  the  midst  of  a  war.  The  republican  administration  had 
a  million,  or  possibly  twelve  hundred  thousand,  bayonets  at  its  command. 
Thus  circumstanced  and  thus  surrounded,  with  the  amplest  possible 
power  to  interfere  with  elections  had  they  so  designed,  with  soldiers  in 
every  hamlet  and  county  of  the  United  States,  the  republican  party 
themselves  placed  that  provision  on  the  statute-book,  and  Abraham 
Lincoln,  their  President,  signed  it.     .     .     . 

"What  then  is  the  real  motive  underlying  this  movement  ?   Senators  on 


64  JAMES   G.    BLAIN-R. 

that  side,  democratic  orators  on  the  stump,  cannot  make  any  sensible  set 
of  men  at  the  cross-roads  believe  that  they  are  afraid  of  eleven  hmidred 
and  fifty-five  soldiers  distributed  one  to  each  county  in  the  South.  The 
moment  you  state  that,  everybody  sees  the  utter,  palpable,  and  laugh- 
able absurdity  of  it,  and  therefore  v^^e  must  go  further  and  find  a  motive 
for  all  this  cry.  We  want  to  find  out,  to  use  a  familiar  and  vulgar 
phrase,  what  is  'the  cat  under  the  meal.'  It  is  not  the  troops,  that  is 
evident.  There  are  more  troops  by  fifty  per  cent,  scattered  through  the 
Northern  States  east  of  the  Mississippi  to-day  than  through  the  Southern 
States  east  of  the  Mississippi,  and  yet  nobody  in  the  North  speaks  of  it  j 
everybody  would  be  laughed  at  for  speaking  of  it ;  and  therefore  the 
issue.  I  take  no  risk  in  stating,  I  make  bold  to  declare,  that  this  issue  on 
the  troops  being  a  false  one,  being  one  vidthout  foundation,  conceals 
the  true  issue,  which  is  simply  to  get  rid  of  the  Federal  presence  at 
Federal  elections,  to  get  rid  of  the  civil  power  of  the  United  States  in 
the  election  of  Representatives  to  the  Congress  of  the  United  States. 
That  is  the  whole  of  it,  and  disguise  it  as  you  may  there  is  nothing  else 
in  it  or  of  it. 

"You  simply  want  to  get  rid  of  the  supervision  by  the  Federal  Gov- 
ernment of  the  election  of  Representatives  to  Congress  through  civil 
means,  and  therefore  this  bill  connects  itself  directly  with  another  bill, 
and  you  cannot  discuss  this  Military  bill  without  discussing  another  bill 
which  we  had  before  us  last  winter,  known  as  the  Legislative,  Executive, 
and  Judicial  Appropriation  bill.  I  am  quite  well  aware,  I  profess  to  be 
as  well  aware  as  any  one,  that  it  is  not  permissible  for  me  to  discuss  a 
bill  that  is  pending  before  the  other  House  ;  I  am  quite  well  aware 
that  propriety  and  parliamentary  rule  forbid  that  I  should  speak  of  what 
is  done  in  the  House  of  Representatives  ;  but  I  know  very  well  that  I 
am  not  forbidden  to  speak  of  that  which  is  not  done  in  the  House  of 
Representatives.  I  am  quite  free  to  speak  of  the  things  that  are  not 
done  there,  and  therefore  I  am  free  to  declare  that  neither  this  Military 
bill  nor  the  Legislative,  Executive,  and  Judicial  Appropriation  bill  ever 
emanated  from  any  committee  of  the  House  of  Representatives  at 
all.  They  are  not  the  work  of  any  committee  of  the  House  of  Represent- 
atives, and  although  the  present  House  of  Representatives  is  almost 
evenly  balanced  in  party  division,  no  solitary  suggestion  has  been  al- 
lowed to  come  from  the  minority  of  that  House  in  regard  to  the  shap- 
ing of  these  bills.  Where  do  they  come  from?  We  are  not  left  to 
infer  ;  we  are  not  even  left  to  the  Yankee  privilege  of  guessing,  because 
we  know.     The  Senator  from  Kentucky  [Mr.  Beck]  obligingly  told  us 


SPEAKER  OF  THE  HOUSE  AND  SENATOR.         65 

— I  have  his  exact  words  here — that  *  the  honorable  Senator  from 
Ohio  [Mr.  ThurmanJ  was  the  chairman  of  a  committee  appointed  by 
the  Democratic  party  to  see  how  it  was  best  to  present  all  these  ques- 
tions before  us.' 

"We  are  told,  too,  rather  a  novel  thing,  that  if  we  do  not  take  these 
laws  we  are  not  to  have  the  appropriations.  I  believe  it  has  been  an- 
nounced in  both  branches  of  Congress — I  suppose  on  the  authority  of  the 
Democratic  caucus — that  if  we  do  not  take  these  bills  as  they  are  planned 
we  shall  not  have  any  of  the  appropriations  that  go  with  them.  The  hon- 
orable Senator  from  West  Virginia  [Mr.  Hereford]  told  it  to  us  on  Fri- 
day ;  the  honorable  Senator  from  Ohio  [Mr.  Thurman]  told  it  to  us  last 
session  ;  the  honorable  Senator  from  Kentucky  [Mr.  Beck]  told  it  to  us  at 
the  same  time,  and  I  am  not  permitted  to  speak  of  the  legions  who  told 
us  so  in  the  other  House.  They  say  all  these  appropriations  are  to  be 
refused — not  merely  the  army  appropriation,  for  they  do  not  stop  at 
that.  Look  for  a  moment  at  the  Legislative  bill  that  came  from  the 
Democratic  caucus.  Here  is  an  appropriation  in  it  for  defraying  the  ex- 
penses of  the  Supreme  Court  and  the  Circuit  and  District  Courts  of  the 
United  States,  including  the  District  of  Columbia,  etc.,  $2,800,000; 
'provided' — provided  what?  That  the  following  sections  of  the  Re- 
vised Statutes  relating  to  elections  [going  on  to  recite  them]  be  repealed. 

"  That  is,  you  will  pass  an  appropriation  for  the  support  of  the  judiciary 
of  the  United  States  only  on  condition  of  this  repeal.  We  often  speak 
of  this  Government  being  divided  between  three  great  departments,  the 
executive,  the  legislative,  and  the  judicial — co-ordinate,  independent, 
equal.  The  legislative,  under  the  control  of  a  Democratic  caucus,  now 
steps  forward  and  says  :  '  We  offer  to  the  Executive  this  bill,  and  if  he 
does  not  sign  it  we  are  going  to  starve  the  judiciary.'  That  is  carrying 
the  thing  a  little  farther  than  I  have  ever  known.  We  do  not  merely 
purpose  to  starve  the  Executive  if  he  will  not  sign  the  bill,  but  we  pro- 
pose to  starve  the  judiciary,  that  has  had  nothing  whatever  to  do  with 
the  question.  That  has  been  boldly  avowed  on  this  floor ;  that  has 
been  boldly  avowed  in  the  other  House  ;  that  has  been  boldly  avowed 
in  Democratic  papers  throughout  the  country.     .     .     . 

"You  say  those  lights  shall  all  go  out  and  not  a  dollar  shall  be  appro- 
priated for  the  board  if  the  President  does  not  sign  these  bills.  There 
are  the  mints  of  the  United  States  at  Philadelphia,  New  Orleans,  Den- 
ver, San  Francisco,  coining  silver  and  coining  gold — not  a  dollar  shall  be 
appropriated  for  them  unless  the  President  signs  these  bills.  There  is  the 
Patent  Office,  the  patents  issued  which  embody  the  inventions  of  the 


66  JAMES   G.    BLAINE. 

country — not  a  dollar  for  them.  The  Pension  Bureau  shall  cease  its  op- 
erations unless  these  bills  are  signed,  and  patriotic  soldiers  may  starve. 
The  Agricultural  Bureau,  the  Post-office  Department — every  one  of  the 
great  executive  functions  of  the  Government  is  threatened — taken  by 
the  throat,  highwayman  style,  collared  on  the  highway,  commanded  to 
stand  and  deliver  in  the  name  of  the  Democratic  Congressional  caucus. 
That  is  what  it  is  ;  simply  that  no  committee  of  this  Congress  in  either 
branch  has  ever  recommended  that  legislation — not  one.  Simply  a 
Democratic  caucus  has  done  it.     .     .     . 

*'  Some  gentleman  may  rise  and  say  :  '  Do  you  call  it  a  revolution  to 
put  an  amendment  on  an  appropriation  bill  ?  '  Of  course  not.  There 
have  been  a  great  many  amendments  put  on  appropriation  bills,  some 
mischievous  and  some  harmless  ;  but  I  call  it  the  audacity  of  revolution 
for  any  Senator  or  Representative,  or  any  caucus  of  Senators  or  Repre- 
sentatives, to  get  together  and  say :  '  We  will  have  this  legislation  or 
we  will  stop  the  great  departments  of  the  Government.'  That  is  revo- 
lutionary. I  do  not  think  it  will  amount  to  revolution  ;  my  opinion  is 
it  will  not  I  think  that  is  a  revolution  that  will  not  go  around  ;  I  think 
that  is  a  revolution  which  will  not  revolve  ;  I  think  that  is  a  revolution 
whose  wheel  vidll  not  turn  ;  but  it  is  a  revolution  if  persisted  in,  and  if 
not  persisted  in  it  must  be  backed  out  from  with  ignominy.  The  Demo- 
cratic party  in  Congress  have  put  themselves  exactly  in  this  position 
to-day,  that  if  they  go  forward  in  the  announced  programme  they  march 
to  revolution.  I  think  they  will  in  the  end  go  back  in  an  ignominious 
retreat.      That  is  my  judgment. 

"The  extent  to  which  they  control  the  legislation  of  the  countiy  is 
worth  pointing  out.  In  round  numbers,  the  Southern  people  are  about 
one-third  of  the  population  of  the  Union.  I  am  not  permitted  to  speak 
of  the  organization  of  the  House  of  Representatives,  but  I  can  refer  to 
that  of  the  last  House.  In  the  last  House  of  Representatives,  of  forty- 
two  standing  committees  the  South  had  twenty-five.  I  am  not  blaming 
the  honorable  Speaker  for  it.  He  was  hedged  in  by  partisan  forces  and 
could  not  avoid  it.  In  this  very  Senate,  out  of  thirty-four  standing 
committees  the  South  has  twenty-two.  I  am  not  calling  these  things  up 
just  now  in  reproach.  I  am  only  showing  what  an  admirable  prophet 
the  late  Vice-President  of  the  Southern  Confederacy  was,  and  how  en- 
tirely true  all  his  words  have  been,  and  how  he  has  lived  to  see  them 
realized. 

*'  I  do  not  profess  to  know,  Mr.  President — least  of  all  Senators  on  this 
floor,  certainly  as  little  as  any  Senator  on  this  floor,  do  I  profess  to 


SPEAKER  OF  THE  HOUSE  AND  SENATOR.        67 

know  what  the  President  of  the  United  States  will  do  when  these  bills 
are  presented  to  him,  as  I  suppose  in  due  course  of  time  they  will  be. 
I  certainly  should  never  speak  a  solitary  word  of  disrespect  of  the  gen- 
tleman holding  that  exalted  position,  and  I  hope  I  should  not  speak  a 
single  word  unbefitting  the  dignity  of  the  office  of  a  Senator  of  the  United 
States.  But  as  there  has  been  speculation  here  and  there  on  both  sides 
as  to  what  he  would  do,  it  seems  to  me  that  the  dead  heroes  of  the 
Union  would  rise  from  their  graves  if  he  should  consent  to  be  intimidated 
and  outraged  in  his  proper  constitutional  powers  by  threats  like  these. 

The  crisis  which  inspired  this  indictment  of  the  Op- 
position was  perhaps  more  serious  than  we  are  likely 
to  remember,  since  it  has  safely  passed.  But  that  it  is 
not  put  too  strongly  by  Mr.  Blaine  is  shown  by  the  tone 
of  newspaper  comment,  of  public  opinion,  and  of  other 
speeches  made  at  the  time  in  Congress.  Garfield,  in  the 
Lower  House,  said  :  "  I  have  no  hope  of  being  able  to 
convey  to  the  members  of  this  House  my  own  conviction 
of  the  very  great  gravity  and  solemnity  of  the  crisis 
which  this  decision  of  the  Chair  and  of  the  Committee 
of  the  Whole  has  brought  upon  this  country.  I  wish  I 
could  be  proved  a  false  prophet  in  reference  to  the  re- 
sult of  this  action.  I  wish  that  I  could  be  overwhelmed 
with  the  proof  that  I  am  utterly  mistaken  in  my  views. 
But  no  view  I  have  ever  taken  has  entered  more  deeply 
and  more  seriously  into  my  convictions  than  this  :  that 
this  House  has  to-day  resolved  to  enter  upon  a  revolu- 
tion against  the  Constitution  and  Government  of  the 
United  States.  ...  I  mean  to  say  that  the  conse- 
quence of  the  programme  just  adopted,  if  persisted  in, 
is  nothing  less  than  the  total  subversion  of  this  Govern- 
ment." 


6S  JAMES  G.  BLAINE. 

To  this  peril  Mr.  Blaine  addressed  himself.  He  felt 
its  magnitude  as  deeply  as  Garfield  did,  and  steadily- 
built  up,  with  the  loyal  co-operation  of  other  Senators, 
a  bulwark  which  the  Democracy  could  not  pass.  When 
the  danger  through  their  labors  was  overcome,  those 
who  watched  the  momentous  debate  with  patriotic  un- 
derstanding, must  have  felt  that  they  owed  an  especial 
debt  to  the  men  who  had  faithfully  upheld  the  Constitu- 
tion through  these  weeks  of  trial. 

But  Mr.  Blaine's  services  to  his  country  and  party, 
during  this  year,  did  not  end  here.  The  organized  ef- 
forts of  the  Democrats  of  Maine  to  defraud  the  Repub- 
licans of  their  justly  won  victory  in  that  State  in  1879  is 
fresh  in  all  minds,  and  its  details  need  not  be  entered 
into  here.  The  defeat  of  the  Democrats  was  so  unques- 
tioned that  their  opponents  had  held  meetings  in  cele- 
bration of  it,  at  one  of  which  Mr.  Blaine  had  been  pres- 
ent and  had  made  a  congratulatory  speech.  The 
intelligence  of  the  design  of  Governor  Garcelon  and 
his  supporters  to  hold  the  State  government  at  all  haz- 
ards fell  among  the  Republicans,  wlio  had  elected  their 
officers  fairly  and  in  due  form,  with  an  effect  of  startling 
surprise.  In  their  amaze  the  monstrous  attempt  might 
have  been  carried  out  under  their  eyes  if  Mr.  Blaine, 
with  characteristic  decision,  had  not  placed  himself  at 
their  head  and  set  on  foot  active  measures  for  the  re- 
buke and  discomfiture  of  the  authors  of  this  daring  at- 
tempt to  reverse  the  popular  will.  He  made  at  once  at 
his  home  in  Augusta  an  indignant  speech,  in  which  he 


SPEAKER  OF  THE  HOUSE  AND  SENATOR.        69 

denounced  an  undertaking  which  he  justly  said  '*  in* 
vited  the  reign  of  anarchy."  To  a  meeting  held  in  Gar- 
diner he  wrote  : 

'■'■ .  .  .  .  Town  government  is  the  bulwark  of  New 
England's  strength,  and  it  is  the  sanctity  of  town  gov- 
ernment that  has  been  outraged,  the  rights  of  town  gov- 
ernments that  have  been  destroyed.  Thirty-seven  mem- 
bers of  the  Legislature  fairly  and  indisputably  elected 
have  been  counted  out,  and  in  no  one  single  instance 
did  the  governor  and  Council  offer  a  hearing  to  the 
people's  elect  whom  they  had  determined  to  sacrifice. 
The  dark  deed  was  appropriately  done  in  secrecy  and 
stealth.  Four  or  five  who  were  threatened  with  dis- 
franchisement did,  by  urgent  solicitation,  secure  the 
privilege  of  appearing  before  the  star  chamber  council, 
but  they  felt  and  knew  that  they  were  talking  to  men 
who  had  prejudged  their  cause,  men  who  had  no  ear  for 
reason  and  no  eye  for  light.  Never  before  in  the  his- 
tory of  Maine  was  a  party  in  interest  refused  a  full 
hearing  before  the  governor  and  Council,  and  a  full 
opportunity  to  examine  the  election  returns.  An  accu- 
rate search  into  the  records  shows  that  in  fifty-nine 
years  there  have  been  just  sixteen  cases  in  which  the 
governor  and  Council  found  the  official  returns  so 
fatally  defective  in  form  as  to  deprive  a  candidate  ap- 
parently elected  of  his  certificate,  averaging  one  case  in 
a  little  less  than  four  years.  Governor  Garcelon  and 
his  Council  find  thirty-seven  fatally  defective  returns  in 
a  single  year,  and  by  one  of  those  providential  dispen- 
sations or  happy  accidents,  which  only  come  to  bless 


^0  JAMES  G.  BLAINE. 

the  just  and  encourage  the  righteous,  every  one  of  those 
thirty-seven  fatally  defective  reforms  was  declared  by 
a  Democratic  Council  to  exist  in  districts  that  had 
chosen  Republican  Senators  or  Representatives. 

"  They  only  claim  that  certain  returns  are  defective  on 
technical  points,  narrow  and  immaterial-  in  themselves, 
and  easily  corrected  under  the  laws  of  the  State,  and 
then  they  claim  the  right  to  set  aside  and  disobey  those 
laws.  They  hold  towns  accountable  for  not  complying 
with  the  strictest  letter  and  last  exaction  of  one  statute, 
and  then  defiantly  proclaim  their  right  to  nullify  other 
statutes  in  the  same  book  on  the  same  subject.  In  other 
words,  they  claim  that  the  statutes  regulating  the  duty  of 
town  officers  shall  be  fulfilled  to  the  uttermost  and  minu- 
test point,  while  the  statute  prescribing  the  duty  of  the 
governor  and  Council  may  be  set  aside  by  a  sort  of  plen- 
ary power  of  dispensation  extended  to  them  alone.  .  .  . 

"For  the  first  time  in  history  the  party  defeated  at  the 
polls  refuses  to  obey  the  popular  decree,  soils  the  rec- 
ord of  the  State  with  fraud,  and  invites  the  reign  of  an- 
archy. It  is  for  the  people  whose  will  is  defied  to  find 
their  remedy  and  vindicate  their  sovereignty." 

The  measures  w^hich  followed  were  directed  by  Mr. 
Blaine,  and  were  decided  but  pacific.  By  his  efforts  an 
open  conflict  was  averted,  and  in  the  end  the  Democrats 
were  forced  to  yield  their  untenable  position  and  to  sur- 
render the  State  government  to  the  rightfully  elected 
officers.  The  result  was  due  almost  entirely  to  Mr. 
Blaine's  sagacious  endeavors,  and  the  people  of  Maine 
have  not  forgotten  to  be  grateful  to  him  for  them. 


VII. 
THE  CURRENCY. 

Mr.  Blaine  was  opposed  to  the  Bland  Silver  Bill  as  it 
passed  both  Houses  and  finally  passed  over  the  veto 
of  the  President.  His  position  upon  it  was  essentially 
that  made  known  by  President  Hayes  in  his  annual 
message  to  Congress  preceding  the  passage  of  the  bill, 
and  afterward  in  vetoing  it.  Mr.  Blaine  was  not  in 
favor  of  the  bill,  but  as  he  saw  it  must  pass,  endeavored 
to  better  it  by  offering  an  amendment  making  the  dol- 
lar 425  grains,  and  was  earnest  in  his  opposition  to  the 
dollar  of  41 2|  grains. 

His  arguments  took  the  general  ground  of  the  injus- 
tice of  coining  a  dollar  of  such  weight — a  weight,  as 
is  well  known,  worth  at  the  time  but  ninety  to  ninety- 
two  cents,  as  compared  with  the  standard  gold  dollar 
— and  making  it  a  legal  tender  for  debts  contracted 
to  be  paid  in  dollars  of  one  hundred  cents.  His  re- 
marks upon  the  question  were  scattered  through  the 
debate,  and  were  often  made  in  question  or  reply  to 
other  Senators.  Certain  of  them  are  reproduced  here 
without  attempt  to  give  them  continuity  : — 


72  JAMES   G.    BLAINE. 

"  What  I  meant  and  what  I  answered  the  Senator  from 
Michigan  was  this  :  That  Senator  was  maintaining 
that,  regardless  of  the  weight  of  this  dollar,  the  moral 
weight  of  this  Government  beneath  it  could  float  it. 
The  Senator,  when  he  comes  to  argue,  refers  to  the  ap- 
plication of  money.  If  you  owe  a  debt  you  have  got  to 
pay  it ;  but  does  the  Senator  say  that,  however  great  the 
moral  worth  of  this  Senate  or  the  moral  worth  of  the 
nation  that  the  Senate  represents,  it  can  throw  that 
moral  worth  into  the  scales  to  throw  up  or  weigh  down 
an  indifferent  or  short  dollar  ?  At  what  particular  per- 
cent, in  the  dollar  does  the  Senator  put  moral  worth  ? 
Is  it  eight  or  ten  ?  What  is  the  component  part,  when 
you  come  to  the  one  hundred  cents  that  make  up  a 
dollar,  that  the  moral  worth  of  any  nation  gives 
it?       .... 

**I  should  like  to  ask  the  honorable  Senator  a  ques- 
tion before  he  sits  down,  because  I  would  certainly  take 
his  judgment  on  a  question  of  honor  as  quick  as  that  of 
any  man  in  the  country.  If  the  Senator  had  borrowed, 
at  a  very  low  rate  of  interest,  $10,000,  and  he  asked  the 
lender  of  the  money  to  give  it  to  him  in  gold  coin,  for 
he  must  have  gold  coin,  and  he  got  it  because  of  his 
undoubted  credit  at  a  low  rate  of  interest,  and  he  only 
paid  four  or  four  and  one-half  per  cent,  interest  on  it, 
would  he  consider  himself,  as  an  honorable  man,  if  by 
any  action  of  any  other  body,  governmental  or  corpo- 
rate, he  was  absolved  from  paying  in  as  good  as  he 
got?       ... 


rilE    CURRENCY.  73 

"  Now,  I  say  that  the  Senator  (Thurman)  has  sat  here 
for  eight  years  and  seen  that  go  forward,  and  the  Sena- 
tor from  Ohio  would  put  his  right  hand  in  the  fire  and 
follow  it  with  his  left,  and  have  them  both  burned  off,  be- 
fore he  would  start  an  agent  in  the  field  for  himself  to 
take  from  the  farmers  in  Ohio  gold  coin,  his  agent  rep- 
resenting all  the  time  that  they  should  be  repaid  in  gold 
coin,  and  then  turn  around  and  say  :  '  Why,  my  friend, 
there  is  not  a  word  in  my  note  about  gold  coin  ;  to  be 
sure  my  authorized  agent  said  so  to  you,  to  be  sure  I 
got  it,  and  got  its  full  value  ;  but  when  you  come  to  read 
my  note ' — like  the  small  print  in  an  insurance  polic} 
that  always  covers  the  rascality  under  which  the  com- 
pany escapes  its  liabilities — 'when  you  come  to  read  my 
note,  or  when  you  come  to  read  the  Government  note, 
there  is  not  a  word  about  paying  you  back  in  as  good  as 
you  gave,  and  I  am  going  to  take  advantage  of  it  now  to 
pay  you  back  in  a  great  deal  less  than  you  gave.'  The 
Senator  from  Ohio  might  stand  here  and  protest,  until 
to-morrow's  sun  shone  forth  and  set  again,  that  he  would 
not  do  it,  and  I  would  believe  him  ;  I  know  he  would  not 
do  it  ;  he  never  would  dishonor  a  name  that  stands  as  high 
as  his  own,  and  I  only  ask  him  to  apply  to  the  faith  and 
honor  and  credit  of  the  Government  the  same  measure 
that  he  applies  to  himself.  Sir,  all  this  discounting  and 
dishonoring  what  the  agents  say,  and  endeavoring  to 
show  that  they  had  no  authority,  is  unworthy  of  being 
presented  here,  because  if  you  give  that  argument  its 
utmost  scope  and  verge  it  only  says  that  the  Govern- 


74  JAMES    G.    BLAIA'E. 

ment  was   not   the   buyer  but  simply   the   receiver  of 
stolen  goods.     .     .     . 

''Just  now  the  Senator  said  he  would  not  vex  his  soul 
about  what  should  be  done  thirty  years  hence.  Here 
are  §280,000,000  that  will  be  at  your  door  three  years 
hence.  What  are  you  going  to  do  with  it  ?  .  .  . 
He  [Mr.  Howe]  does  not  come  square  up  and  say  that 
he,  as  a  man  holding  in  his  hand  a  loan  of  $10,000  which 
he  exacted  in  coin,  and  because  of  his  great  credit  got 
at  four  per  cent,  interest,  will,  if  he  from  any  cause  has 
the  power,  evade  under  the  law  its  full  payment,  and 
that  he  has  no  power  to  declare  differently  for  himself, 
that  the  Government  would  feel  justified  in  that  great 
court  w^hich  is  above  laws  and  above  nations  and  above 
individuals,  the  Court  of  Honor." 

In  December,  1867,  he  made  a  striking  speech  on  the 
finances,  in  which  he  said  of  Mr.  Pendleton's  greenback 
theory  :  "  The  remedy  for  our  financial  troubles  will 
not  be  found  in  a  superabundance  of  depreciated  paper 
currency.  It  lies  in  the  opposite  direction,  and  the 
sooner  the  Nation  finds  itself  on  a  specie  basis  the  sooner 
will  the  public  treasury  be  freed  from  embarrassment 
and  private  business  be  relieved  from  discouragement. 
Instead,  therefore,  of  entering  upon  a  reckless  and 
boundless  issue  of  legal-tenders,  with  their  constant  de- 
preciation, if  not  destruction,  of  value,  let  us  set  res- 
olutely to  work  and  make  those  already  in  circulation 
equal  to  so  many  gold  dollars." 

But  Mr.  Blaine's  most  solid  and  brilliant  utterance  on 


THE    CURREiVCY.  75 

the  Currency  was  made  in  an  elaborate  speech  in  the 
House,  February  ii,  1876.  This  is  too  long  for  repro- 
duction here,  but  it  is  given  in  its  main  points  in  the 
Appendix,  where  it  will  be  found  extremely  well  worth 
perusal. 


VIII. 

THE  TARIFF. 

The  biographer  of  Mr.  Blaine  has  a  brief  story  to  tell 
of  his  course  upon  the  tariff.  He  has  not  to  follow  him 
through  windings  of  any  sort,  nor  to  record  retreats  or 
hesitations.  His  course  from  the  beginning  upon  this 
important  question  has  been  consistent  and  straightfor- 
ward. He  has  not  faltered  from  his  entrance  upon 
public  life  in  the  earnest  belief  that  the  collection  of 
revenue  from  imports  should  be  made  to  serve  the 
double  purpose  of  furnishing  the  national  purse  and  of 
bringing  into  life  national  industries,  while,  once  born, 
he  would  strengthen  their  hands. 

His  sense  of  the  need  of  protection  as  protection  has 
been  positive,  and  has  not  skulked  in  disguises  of  any 
sort.  This  is  not  to  say  that  he  is  blind  to  the  inequal- 
ities of  the  tariff,  or  is  insensible  of  the  need  of  a  gradual 
reduction  of  imports  laid  under  the  necessities  of  war. 
But  it  is  not  to  be  denied  that  he  is  opposed  to  the 
headlong  zeal  which  expresses  itself  in  ill-judged  efforts 
to  hastily  overturn  the  slow-built  safeguards  of  business 
and  to  shake  commercial  values. 


THE   TARIFF,  77 

If  the  history  of  Mr.  Blaine's  course  upon  the  tariff  is 
brief,  it  is  because  it  has  felt  but  a  single  impulse  behind 
it  ;  not  because  that  impulse  has  failed  to  make  itself 
abundantly  known  in  his  utterances.  He  has  announced 
his  belief  and  urged  the  argument  for  the  fostering  of 
home  industries  by  the  tariff  with  unfailing  energy 
and  in  no  uncertain  voice.  The  ambiguous  attitude  of 
the  Democracy  upon  this  issue  in  former  Presidential 
campaigns  has  offered  him  a  fruitful  point  of  attack. 
Unconditionally  Mr.  Blaine  is  for  American  labor,  and 
opposed  to  bringing  into  competition  with  it  the  ill- 
paid  labor  of  Europe.  His  has  come  to  be  the  name 
which  most  surely  stands  for  the  theories  bound  up  in 
the  long  and  prosperous  practice  of  the  country,  theo- 
ries which  are  summed  up  in  the  word  "protection." 

His  position  upon  the  tariff  is  not  a  mere  following 
of  party  dictates.  The  doctrine  which  he  maintains  is  a 
doctrine  based  upon  knowledge  and  experience,  and  is 
dear  to  him  as  a  personal  conviction.  His  speeches  on 
the  floor  of  Congress,  at  political  meetings,  and  wherever 
his  voice  has  been  heard,  have  been  distinguished  even 
above  his  other  speeches  by  their  earnestness  and  sincer- 
itv,  qualities  which  have  not  been  a  more  conspicuous 
trait  of  any  American  public  speaker. 

The  chapter  in  his  recently  published  volume  dealing 
with  this  subject  is  strikingly  impartial  and  weighs  the 
opposingargumentswith  an  even-handed  scrupulousness, 
not  to  be  expected  of  a  man  whose  life-work  has  been  of 
necessity  rati  er  that  of  an  advocate  than  a  judge.     He 


78  JAMES  G.  BLAIN-E. 

compares  the  two  systems  currently  known  as  free-trade 
and  protection  historically,  going  back  to  the  founda- 
tions of  the  Government.  The  free-trade  argument  is 
stated  no  less  amply  than  the  theory  of  the  protection- 
ists. The  acts  of  both  parties  are  balanced,  and  their 
results  calmly  stated.  When  the  protectionists  went  too 
far,  exaggerated  their  function,  Mr.  Blaine  sets  it  fairly 
down,  and  without  prejudice  makes  the  like  record  on 
the  other  side.  Within  its  space  the  reader  is  not  likely 
to  find  a  more  trustworthy  account  of  this  long  contest 
between  two  honestly  held  principles. 

When  he  has  completed  the  summary,  in  which  he 
properly  keeps  the  judicial  attitude,  he  makes  a  brief 
statement  of  his  conclusions,  which  is  touched,  as  the 
best  historical  evidence  is,  with  the  writer's  individual- 
ity. As  is  becoming,  it  does  not  make  unmistakable  an- 
nouncement of  personal  opinion  ;  but  it  is  a  setting  forth 
of  the  case  which  will  commend  itself  to  the  reasonable 
mind,  and  as  such  may  be  set  down  here  : 

**  Strictly  speaking,"  he  says,*  "  there  has  never  been  a 
proposition  by  any  party  in  the  United  States  for  the 
adoption  of  free  trade.  To  be  entirely  free,  trade  must 
encounter  no  obstruction  in  the  way  of  tax,  either  upon 
export  or  import.  In  that  sense  no  nation  has  ever  en- 
joyed free  trade  as  contradistinguished  from  the  theory 
of  protection.  England  has  realized  freedom  of  trade  by 
taxing  only  that  class  of  imports  which  meet  no  compe- 


*  Twenty  Years  of  Congress,  p.  20S. 


THE   TARIFF.  yg 

tition  in  home  production,  thus  excluding  all  pretence 
of  favor  or  advantage  to  any  of  her  domestic  industries. 
England  came  to  this  policy  after  having  clogged  and 
embarrassed  trade  for  a  long  time  by  the  most  unrea- 
sonable and  tyrannical  restrictions,  ruthlessly  enforced, 
without  regard  to  the  interests  or  even  the  rights  of 
others.  She  had  more  than  four  hundred  acts  of  Par- 
liament regulating  the  tax  on  imports,  under  the  old 
designations  of  'tonnage  and  poundage,'  adjusted,  as 
the  phrase  imports,  to  heavy  and  light  commodities. 
Beyond  these  she  had  a  cumbersome  system  of  laws 
regulating,  and  in  many  cases  prohibiting,  the  exporta- 
tion of  articles  which  might  teach  to  other  nations  the 
skill  by  which  she  had  herself  so  marvellously  prospered. 
When  by  long  experiment  and  persistent  effort  England 
had  carried  her  fabrics  to  perfection  ;  when  by  the  large 
accumulation  of  wealth  and  the  force  of  reserved  capi- 
tal she  could  command  facilities  which  poorer  nations 
could  not  rival  ;  when  by  the  talent  of  her  inventors, 
developed  under  the  stimulus  of  large  reward,  she  had 
surpassed  all  other  countries  in  the  magnitude  and  effec- 
tiveness of  her  machinery  she  proclaimed  free-trade,  and 
persuasively  urged  it  upon  all  lands  with  which  she 
had  commercial  intercourse.  Maintaining  the  most 
arbitrary  and  most  complicated  system  of  protection  as 
long  as  her  statesmen  considered  that  policy  advanta- 
geous, she  resorted  to  free  trade  only  when  she  felt  able 
to  invade  the  domestic  markets  of  other  countries  and 
undersell  the  fabrics  produced  by  struggling  artisans 


So  JAMES  G.  BLAINE. 

who  were  sustained  by  weaker  capital  and  less  advanced 
skill.  So  long  as  there  was  danger  that  her  own  marts 
might  be  invaded,  and  the  products  of  her  looms  and 
forges  undersold  at  home,  she  rigidly  excluded  the  com- 
peting fabric  and  held  her  own  market  for  her  own 
wares. 

**  England  was,  however,  neither  consistent  nor  candid 
in  her  advocacy  and  establishment  of  free  trade.  She 
did  not  apply  it  to  all  departments  of  her  enterprise, 
but  only  to  those  in  which  she  felt  confident  that  she 
could  defy  competition.  Long  after  the  triumph  of 
free  trade  in  manufactures  as  proclaimed  in  1846,  Eng- 
land continued  to  violate  every  principle  of  her  own 
creed  in  the  protection  she  extended  to  her  navigation 
interests.  She  had  nothing  to  fear  from  the  United 
States  in  the  domain  of  manufactures,  and  she  therefore 
asked  us  to  give  her  the  unrestricted  benefit  of  our 
markets  in  exchange  for  a  similar  privilege  which  she 
offered  us  in  her  market.  But  on  the  sea  we  were 
steadily  gaining  upon  her,  and  in  1850-55  were  nearly- 
equal  to  her  in  aggregate  tonnage.  We  could  build 
wooden  ships  at  less  cost  than  England,  and  our  ships 
excelled  hers  in  speed.  When  steam  began  to  compete 
with  sail  she  saw  her  advantage.  She  could  build  en- 
gines at  less  cost  than  we,  and  when,  soon  afterward,  her 
ship-builders  began  to  construct  the  entire  steamer  of 
iron  her  advantages  became  evident  to  the  whole  world. 

"  England  was  not  content,  however,  with  the  superior- 
ity which  these  circumstances  gave  to  her.     She  did  not 


THE   TARIFF.  8 1 

wait  for  her  whole  theory  of  free  trade  to  work  out  its 
legitimate  results,  but  forthwith  stimulated  the  growth 
of  her  steam  marine  by  the  most  enormous  bounties  ever 
paid  by  any  nation  to  any  enterprise.  To  a  single  line 
of  steamers  running  alternate  weeks  from  Liverpool  to 
Boston  and  New  York,  she  paid  $900,000  annually,  and 
continued  to  pay  at  this  extravagant  rate  for  at  least 
twenty  years.  In  all  channels  of  trade  where  steam 
could  be  employed  she  paid  lavish  subsidies,  and  liter- 
ally destroyed  fair  competition,  and  created  for  herself  a 
practical  monopoly  in  the  building  of  iron  steamers.  Her 
course,  in  effect,  is  an  exact  repetition  of  that  in  regard 
to  protection  of  manufactures,  but  as  it  is  exhibited  be- 
fore a  new  generation,  the  inconsistency  is  not  so  read- 
ily apprehended  nor  so  keenly  appreciated  as  it  should  be 
on  this  side  of  the  Atlantic.  Even  now  there  is  good 
reason  for  believing  that  many  lines  of  English  steamers, 
in  their  efforts  to  seize  the  trade  to  the  exclusion  of  rivals, 
are  paid  such  extravagant  rates  for  the  carrying  of  let- 
ters as  practically  to  amount  to  a  bounty,  thus  confirm- 
ing to  the  present  day  (1884)  the  fact  that  no  nation  has 
ever  been  so  persistently  and  jealously  protective  in  her 
policy  as  England,  so  long  as  the  stimulus  of  protection 
is  needed  to  give  her  the  command  of  trade.  What  is 
true  of  England  is  true  in  a  greater  or  less  degree  of  all 
other  European  nations.  They  have,  each  in  turn,  regu- 
lated the  adoption  of  free  trade  by  the  ratio  of  their 
progress  toward  the  point  where  they  could  overcome 
competition.     In  all  those  departments  of  trade  where 


82  JAMES  G.  BLAINE. 

competition  could  overcome  them,  they  have  been  quick 
to  interpose  protective  measures  for  the  benefit  of  their 
own  people. 

'^  The  trade  policy  of  the  United  States  at  the  founda^ 
tion  of  the  Government  had  features  of  enlightened 
liberality  which  were  unknown  in  any  other  country  of 
the  world.  The  new  government  was  indeed  as  far  in 
advance  of  European  nations  in  the  proper  conception 
of  liberal  commerce  as  it  was  on  questions  relating  to 
the  character  of  African  slave- trade.  The  colonists  had 
experienced  the  oppression  of  the  English  laws  which 
prohibited  exports  from  the  mother  country  of  the  very 
articles  which  might  advance  their  material  interest  and 
improve  their  social  condition.  They  now  had  the  op- 
portunity, as  citizens  of  a  free  Republic,  to  show  the 
generous  breadth  of  their  statesmanship,  and  they  did 
so  by  providing  in  their  Constitution,  that  Congress 
should  never  possess  the  power  to  levy  '  a  tax  or  duty 
on  articles  exported  from  any  State.'  At  the  same  time 
trade  was  left  absolutely  free  between  all  the  States  of 
the  Union,  no  one  of  them  being  permitted  to  levy  any 
tax  on  exports  or  imports  beyond  what  might  be  neces- 
sary for  its  inspection  laws.  Still  further  to  enforce  this 
needful  provision,  the  power  to  regulate  commerce  be- 
tween the  States  was  given  to  the  General  Government. 
The  effect  of  these  provisions  was  to  insure  to  the  United 
States  a  freedom  of  trade  beyond  that  enjoyed  by  any 
other  nation.  Fifty-five  millions  of  American  people 
(in  1884),  over  an  area  nearly  as  large  as  the  entire  con- 


THE   TARIFF.  83 

tinent  of  Europe,  carry  on  their  exchanges  by  ocean,  by 
lake,  by  river,  by  rail,  without  the  exactions  of  the  tax- 
gatherer,  without  the  detention  of  the  custom-house, 
without  the  recognition  of  the  State  lines.  In  these  great 
channels  the  domestic  exchanges  represent  an  annual 
value  perhaps  twenty-five  times  as  great  as  the  total  of 
exports  and  imports.  It  is  the  enjoyment  of  free  trade 
and  protection  at  the  same  time  which  has  contributed 
to  the  unexampled  development  and  marvellous  pros- 
perity of  the  United  States. 

**  The  essential  question  which  has  grown  up  between 
political  parties  in  the  United  States  respecting  our 
foreign  trade,  is  whether  a  duty  should  be  laid  upon 
any  import  for  the  direct  object  of  protecting  and  en- 
couraging the  manufacture  of  the  same  article  at  home. 
The  party  opposed  to  this  theory  does  not  advocate 
the  admission  of  the  article  free,  but  insists  upon  such 
rate  of  duty  as  will  produce  the  largest  revenue  and  at 
the  same  time  afford  what  is  termed  '  incidental  protec- 
tion.' The  advocates  of  actual  free-trade  according  to 
the  policy  in  England — taxing  only  those  articles  which 
are  not  produced  at  home — are  few  in  number  and  are 
principally  confined  to  doctrinaires.  The  instincts  of 
the  masses  of  both  parties  are  against  them.  But  the 
nominal  free-trader  finds  it  very  difficult  to  unite  the 
largest  revenue  from  any  article  with  '  incidental  protec- 
tion' to  the  competing  product  at  home.  If  the  duty  be 
so  arranged  as  to  produce  the  greatest  amount  of  reve- 
nue, it  must  be  placed  at  that  point  where  the  foreign 


84  JAMES  g\  BLAINE. 

article  is  able  to  undersell  the  domestic  article,  and  thus 
command  the  market  to  the  exclusion  of  competition. 
This  result  goes  beyond  what  the  so-called  American 
free-trader  intends  in  practice,  but  not  beyond  what  he 
implies  in  theory. 

"  The  American  protectionist  does  not  seek  to  evade 
the  legitimate  results  of  his  theory.  He  starts  with  the 
proposition  that  whatever  is  manufactured  at  home 
gives  work  and  wages  to  our  own  people,  and  that  if 
the  duty  is  even  put  so  high  as  to  prohibit  the  import 
of  the  foreign  article,  the  competition  of  home  pro- 
ducers will,  according  to  the  doctrine  of  Mr.  Hamilton, 
rapidly  reduce  the  price  to  the  consumer.  He  gives 
numerous  illustrations  of  articles  which  under  the  in- 
fluence of  home  competition  have  fallen  in  price  below 
the  point  at  which  the  foreign  article  was  furnished 
when  there  was  no  protection.  The  free-trader  replies 
that  the  fall  in  price  has  been  still  greater  in  the  foreign 
market,  and  the  protectionist  rejoins  that  the  reduc- 
tion was  made  to  compete  with  the  American  product, 
and  that  the  former  price  would  probably  have  been 
maintained  so  long  as  the  importer  had  the  monopoly 
of  our  market.  Thus  our  protective  tariff  reduced 
the  price  in  both  countries.  This  has  notably  been 
the  result  with  respect  to  steel  rails,  the  production  of 
which  in  America  has  reached  a  magnitude  surpassing 
that  of  England.  Meanwhile  rails  have  largely  fallen 
in  price  to  the  consumer,  the  home  manufacturer  has 
disbursed  countless  millions  of  money  among  American 


THE    TARIFF.  85 

laborers,  and  has  added  largely  to  our  industrial  inde- 
pendence and  to  the  wealth  of  the  country. 

''While  many  fabrics  have  fallen  to  as  low  a  price  in 
the  United  States  as  elsewhere,  it  is  not  to  be  denied 
that  articles  of  clothing  and  household  use,  metals  and 
machinery,  are  on  an  average  higher  than  in  Europe. 
The  difference  is  due  in  a  large  degree  to  the  wages  paid 
to  labor,  and  thus  the  question  of  reducing  the  tariff 
carries  with  it  the  very  serious  problem  of  a  reduction 
in  the  pay  of  the  artisan  and  the  operative.  This  in- 
volves so  many  grave  considerations  that  no  party  is  pre- 
pared to  advocate  it  openly.  Free-traders  do  not,  and 
apparently  dare  not,  face  the  plain  truth — which  is  that 
the  lowest-priced  fabric  means  the  lowest-priced  labor. 
On  this  point  protectionists  are  more  frank  than  their 
opponents  ;  they  realize  that  it  constitutes  indeed  the 
most  impregnable  defence  of  their  school.  Free-traders 
have  at  times  attempted  to  deny  the  truth  of  the  state- 
ment, but  every  impartial  investigation  thus  far  has 
conclusively  proved  that  labor  is  better  paid,  and  the 
average  condition  of  the  working  man  more  comfort- 
able in  the  United  States  than  in  any  European  coun- 
try. 

"An  adjustment  of  the  protective  duty  to  the  point 
which  represents  the  average  difference  between  wages 
of  labor  in  Europe  and  in  America,  will,  in  the  judg- 
ment of  the  protectionists,  always  prove  impracticable. 
The  difference  cannot  be  regulated  by  a  scale  of  aver- 
ages because  it  is  constantly  subject  to  arbitrary  changes. 


86  JAMES  G.   BLAINE. 

If  the  duty  be  adjusted  on  that  basis  for  any  given  date, 
a  reduction  of  wages  would  at  once  be  enforced  abroad, 
and  the  American  manufacturer  would  in  consequence 
be  driven  to  the  desperate  choice  of  surrendering  the 
home  market  or  reducing  the  pay  of  workmen.  The 
theory  of  protection  is  not  answered,  nor  can  its  realiza- 
tion be  attained  by  any  such  device.  Protection,  in  the 
perfection  of  its  design  as  described  by  Mr.  Hamilton, 
does  not  invite  competition  from  abroad,  but  is  based 
on  the  controlling  principle  that  competition  at  home 
will  always  prevent  monopoly  on  the  part  of  the  capi- 
talist, assure  good  wages  to  the  laborer,  and  defend  the 
consumer  against  the  evils  of  extortion." 

This  is  a  comprehensive  statement  of  the  facts,  and 
must  impress  the  reader  as  conceived  in  a  spirit  far  re- 
moved from  the  narrow  disposition  which  supports  par- 
tisan dogma  at  any  cost— not  partisan.  Mr.  Blaine's 
adherence  is  to  a  system  of  protection  broad  enough  to 
embrace  something  more  than  is  meant  by  its  opponents 
when  they  speak  of  manufacturers  clamoring  for  assist- 
ance from  the  National  Government.  It  includes,  as 
Garfield's  wide-reaching  idea  did,  nothing  less  than  the 
highest  well-being  of  every  citizen,  whatever  his  occu- 
pation. If  Mr.  Blaine's  thought  of  the  system  which 
he  has  so  vigorously  defended  was  of  a  scheme  for  the 
aid  of  a  class,  however  large  or  influential,  his  fair  mind 
would  have  no  room  for  it.  Protection  to  him,  if  we 
have  not  misunderstood  him,  means  an  encouragement 
to  every  form  of  labor  to  which  the  hand  of  man  can 


THE   TARIFF.  8/ 

turn — not  less  to  agriculture  than  to  manufacturing, 
not  more  vigorous  to  the  making  of  steel  rails  than  the 
making  of  crops.  A  free,  large,  and  stable  inter-state 
commerce,  independent  of  foreign  markets,  yet  not  pre- 
judicial to  the  development  of  the  merchant  marine,  is, 
perhaps,  the  protectionist's  ideal,  and  possibly  that  may 
be  left  with  the  reader  as  a  fair  summary  of  Mr.  Blaine's 
theory  of  the  most  desirable  form  of  national  prosperity. 
In  1880,  just  before  the  election  of  Garfield,  Mr.  Blaine 
wrote  to  an  inquiring  Irishman  : 

••  Augusta,  Me.,  October  27,  1880. 
"  Mv  Dear  Sir  :  I  received  your  friendly  letter  with 
much  pleasure.  Let  me  say  in  reply  that  the  course  of 
yourself  and  other  Irish  voters  is  one  of  the  most  extra- 
ordinary anomalies  in  our  political  history.  Never, 
probably,  since  the  execution  of  Robert  Emmet  has  the 
feeling  of  Irishmen  the  world  over  been  so  bitter  against 
England  and  Englishmen  as  it  is  at  this  hour.  And  yet 
the  great  mass  of  the  Irish  voters  will,  on  Tuesday  next, 
vote  precisely  as  Englishmen  would  have  them  vote, 
for  the  interests  of  England.  Having  seen  Ireland  re- 
duced to  misery,  and  driven  to  despair  by  what  they  re- 
gard as  the  unjust  policy  of  England,  the  Irishmen  of 
America  use  their  suffrages  as  though  they  were  the 
agents  and  serv^ants  of  the  English  Tories.  The  free- 
traders of  England  desire  nothing  so  much  as  the  defeat 
of  Garfield  and  the  election  of  Hancock.  They  wish  to 
break  down  the  protective  tariff  and  cripple  our  manu- 


88  JAMES  C.   BLAINE. 

factures,  and  nine-tenths  of  the  Irish  voters  of  this 
country  respond  with  alacrity,  '*  Yes,  we  will  do  your 
bidding  and  vote  to  please  you,  even  though  it  reduce 
our  own  wages  and  take  the  bread  from  the  mouths  of 
our  children."  There  are  many  able  men  and  many 
clever  writers  among  the  Irish  in  America,  but  I  have 
never  met  any  one  of  them  able  enough  and  clever 
enough  to  explain  this  anomaly  on  any  basis  of  logic 
and  good  sense.  I  am  glad  to  see  from  your  esteemed 
favor  that  the  subject  is  beginning  to  trouble  you.  The 
more  you  think  of  it  the  more  you  will  be  troubled,  I 
am  sure.  And  you  will  be  driven  finally  to  the  conclu- 
sion that  the  prosperity  of  the  Irish  in  this  country  de- 
pends as  largely  as  that  of  any  other  class  upon  the 
maintenance  of  the  financial  and  industrial  policy  rep- 
resented by  the  Republican  party. 

"  Very  truly  yours,  J.  G.  Blaine." 

The  following  is  extracted  from  a  speech  of  Mr. 
Blaine  upon  protection  at  the  opening  of  the  perma- 
nent Exhibition  at  Philadelphia,  May  lo,  1878. 

*'  Let  us  look  at  our  actual  condition  and  draw  thence 
some  instruction,  which  may  silence  partisan  strife  over 
questions  of  domestic  economy.  To  those  who  doubt 
the  development  of  home  industries  under  the  stim- 
ulus of  protection  to  the  American  inventor  and  the 
American  mechanic,  I  say,  stand  on  this  platform  and 
look  around  you.  Argument  may  well  cease  in  the  face 
of  a  positive  demonstration.     Clamorous  contradiction 


THE   TARIFF.  89 

may  well  be  silenced  in  the  presence  of  an  irrefutable 
conclusion.  To  those  who  think  we  need  the  vigor  and 
independence  which  free  trade  can  impart,  I  say,  Look 
abroad  over  the  domain  of  the  United  States  of  America 
inhabited  by  a  population  that  will  soon  be  fifty  millions, 
with  fifteen  thousand  miles  of  ocean  fronton  the  Atlantic, 
the  Gulf,  the  Pacific,  and  the  Arctic  ;  with  five  great  inte- 
rior seas,  each  more  valuable  than  those  waters  for  whose 
mastery  European  empires  wage  bloody  and  wasteful 
wars  ;  with  rivers  meeting  our  States  in  a  network  of 
inland  navigation  greater  in  extent  than  all  the  rivers 
of  Europe  combined  ;  with  our  railways  joining  lake  to 
gulf  and  ocean  to  ocean  ;  and  then  remember  and  re- 
flect that  on  all  our  ocean  coast,  on  all  our  interior  seas, 
on  all  our  rivers,  over  all  our  railroads,  between  all  our 
States  and  with  all  our  Territories,  trade  is  absolutely 
free  for  all  American  products  without  fetter,  or  duty,  or 
charge,  or  fee,  or  any  governmental  tax  whatever,  na- 
tional, State  or  municipal  ;  and  remember  too  that  the 
great  organic  law  of  the  land  declares  that  it  shall  al- 
ways remain  so.  And  I  here  assert  that,  enjoying  as 
we  have  enjoyed,  and  as  I  hope  we  shall  enjoy,  the  full 
benefit  of  protection  to  American  industry  against  in- 
jurious competition  from  abroad,  we  have  also  enjoyed 
and  do  enjoy  among  ourselves  the  blessings  of  absolute 
free  trade  beyond  that  ever  realized  in  the  world  else- 
where by  so  large  a  population,  over  so  vast  an  extent 
of  country.  The  aggregate  of  our  domestic  commerce 
is  astounding  in  its  figures.     The  vast  importance  of 


90  JAMES  G.  BLAINE, 

our  foreign  commerce  is  now  exciting  general  interest 
and  enlisting  the  attention  of  the  whole  country.  It 
has  grown  so  large  that  its  total  for  a  single  year 
amounts  to  nearly  $1,200,000,000,  and  its  importance 
cannot  be  over-estimated.  But  compared  with  our 
domestic  commerce,  it  is  absolutely  insignificant  in 
amount.  The  traffic  by  railroad  alone  in  this  country 
is  estimated  to  be  sixteen  times  as  large  as  the  whole  of 
our  foreign  commerce,  and  when  you  add  to  that  the 
commerce  of  lake  and  river  and  canal,  you  have  an  ag- 
gregate of  domestic  exchanges  that  amounts  to  twenty- 
five  times  as  much  as  the  foreign  commerce,  including 
the  exports  and  imports. 

*'  And  thus  it  is,  Mr.  President,  that  the  system  of  ab- 
solute free  trade  among  ourselves,  and  of  production 
with  respect  to  foreign  nations,  has  created  and  developed 
those  great  industries,  whose  richest  and  ripest  fruits 
we  see  around  us  here  to-day.  I  congratulate  you  on 
the  auspicious  results  of  your  energy  and  your  enter- 
prise, and  I  predict  with  confidence  that  your  labors 
will  be  amply  repaid  by  the  increased  trade  of  your 
great  and  growing  and  patriotic  city,  and  repaid  again 
by  the  intelligent  gratitude  of  that  great  mass  of  the 
American  people  who  know  and  who  feel  that  the  coun- 
try is  always  happiest  and  most  prosperous  when  labor 
is  honorably  employed  and  amply  compensated  at 
home." 

During  1878  he  was  also  present  at  a  demonstration 
made  at  Chester,  Pa.,  against  a  bill  then  before  Con- 


THE   TARIFF.  9 1 

gress  which  proposed  the  reduction  of  duties.    He  said 
— and  this  may  fitly  close  our  chapter  ; 

GOVERNMENT  AID  TO  FOREIGN  SHIPS. 

"When  we  contemplate  this  condition  of  affairs  the 
doctrinaire  of  free  trade  steps  forward  with  his  ready 
suggestion  and  says  :  *  Give  us  free  ships  and  we  will  at 
once  establish  steamship  lines  between  our  ports  and 
Europe.'  The  genuine  free-trader  never  believes  that 
anything  can  be  produced  in  this  country  as  cheap  or 
as  good  as  it  can  be  found  abroad,  and  if  you  offer  him 
for  %(iZ  currency  per  ton  a  steamship  built  on  the  Dela- 
ware he  will  try  to  persuade  you  that  one  built  on  the 
Clyde  for  ^£"14  per  ton  is  a  vast  deal  cheaper,  though  the 
American  iron  used  in  our  steamships  is  admitted  to  be 
of  better  quality  than  that  employed  in  the  English 
yards.  But  if  you  gratify  the  whim  of  the  free-trader 
and  permit  American  registers  to  underlie  and  the 
American  flag  to  float  over  any  ship,  wherever  built, 
what  have  you  gained  ?  Can  you  run  these  lines  on  the 
basis  of  free  trade  against  the  English  and  French  lines 
that  are  aided  and  upheld  by  their  governments  ? 

AMERICA'S  POSSIBILITIES. 

**  If  our  country  were  for  a  few  persistent  years  of  like 
mind  with  Great  Britain  and  France  on  this  great  com- 
mercial question,  you  would  find  all  over  the  land  great 
shipyards  springing  up  to  supply  the  demand  for  the 


92  JAMES   G.    BLAINE. 

Steam  marine  of  America.  When  we  had  a  fair  chance 
and  equal  terms  our  sailing  vessels  gained  on  Great 
Britain  until,  for  the  last  ten  years  before  the  outbreak 
of  the  Rebellion,  we  were  abreast  if  not  ahead  of  her  in 
aggregate  tonnage  ;  and  on  equal  footing  we  should 
soon  do  the  same  in  our  steam  marine.  But  with  Eng- 
land and  France  aiding  their  lines  with  mail  contracts 
to  drive  other  lines  from  the  sea  it  is  idle  to  enter  the 
race.  A  very  small  amount  comparatively  would  enable 
us  to  become  the  victors  in  the  struggle  for  ocean 
supremacy.  What  it  costs  us  to  support  two  regiments 
of  cavalry  or  maintain  five  large  men-of-war  could  give 
us  lines  of  first-class  American  steamships  to  foreign 
ports,  from  at  least  six  of  our  principal  commercial  ports. 
We  stand  in  the  position  to  be  the  first  commercial  na- 
tion in  the  world.  Alone  of  all  the  great  Powers  we 
have  a  vast  frontage  on  the  two  oceans  whose  waters 
bound  all  the  continent  and  float  the  commerce  that 
civilizes  and  enriches  the  world.  Our  coast  line  is 
longer  than  that  which  borders  Europe  ;  our  harbors 
are  more  numerous  and  capacious  than  those  of  all  our 
maritime  rivals  combined.  Nature  has  given  us  the  po- 
sition and  the  power  to  lead  the  commercial  world. 
Shall  we  use  our  opportunity  or  abandon  the  field  to 
those  who  have  not  a  tittle  of  our  advantage  ?  If  we 
can  only  regain  the  proportion  of  our  commerce  which 
we  held  in  1856,  the  profit  to  our  people  will  be  more 
than  $100,000,000  per  annum.  Shall  we  go  forward  or 
shall  we  continue  to  retreat  ?  " 


IX. 

AMERICAN  SHIPPING. 

The  attitude  of  Mr.  Blaine  upon  foreign  commerce 
is  not  a  doubtful  one.  It  has  frequently  been  made 
known  ;  but  it  is  perhaps  most  fully  expressed  in  the 
admirable  speech  in  response  to  a  toast  at  the  annual 
dinner  of  the  New  York  Chamber  of  Commerce,  May  13, 
1879.  It  is  a  concise  statement,  backed  by  an  array  of 
figures  and  a  solidity  of  argument  that  takes  it  out  of 
the  amiably  light  class  of  after-dinner  speeches  and 
makes  it  worth  reproduction  here. 

Mr.  Blaine  said : 

You  will  permit  me  to  say,  speaking  as  an  outsider,  to  the  Chamber 
of  Commerce,  and  coming  as  I  do  from  a  commercial  State,  that  com- 
merce as  well  as  religion  needs  a  revival  in  this  country.  Every  other 
interest  in  this  country  for  the  last  fifteen  years,  even  including  the  year 
1866-67,  a  year  of  doubt  and  depression,  has  been  gathering  strength  and 
is  ready  to  march  forward  to  victory,  save  only  the  commerce  of  the 
country.  Now  I  suppose  that  figures  are  familiar  to  you,  gentlemen, 
but  the  figures  of  American  commerce,  in  its  decline,  are  startling. 
Twenty  years  ago,  of  the  tonnage  engaged  in  the  foreign  trade  of  the 
United  States  fully  three-fourths  was  American  tonnage.  Of  the 
tonnage  engaged  in  the  foreign  trade  of  the  United  States  to-day  not 
one-fourth  is  American.     In  1856-57  Great  Britain,  the  leading  com- 


94  JAMES  G.  BLAINE, 

mercial  nation  of  the  world,  had  only  950,  coo  tons  engaged  in  trade  be- 
tween the  United  States  and  that  kingdom.  She  has  5,200,000  tons 
now.  Germany  then  had  but  160,000  tons.  She  has  950,000  tons 
now.  Norway  and  Sweden  twenty  years  ago  had  in  trade  between  this 
country  and  their  own  but  20,000  tons.  Last  year's  reports  show  that 
she  had  850,000  tons.  Even  Austria,  penned  up  with  a  limited  sea- 
board as  she  is,  had  in  commerce  with  us,  twenty  years  ago,  not  a  ves- 
sel of  her  own  ;  but  last  year  she  had  no  less  than  220,000  tons.  And  I 
might  go  on  thus  through  the  whole  list. 

In  this  mighty  increase  of  commerce,  from  4,400,000  to  over  10,000,- 
000  tons  in  a  single  year,  the  United  States  has  gone  backward,  and  all 
the  vast  profit  of  this  trade  has  gone  into  the  coffers  of  other  nations. 
Let  me  ask  of  you  here  what  other  interests  have  gone  backward  in 
that  period.  Have  manufactures  ?  They  have  outstripped  imagina- 
tion. Has  agriculture?  It  has  gone  ahead  of  every  calculation. 
Has  internal  commerce  ?  Why,  we  have  increased  from  30,000  to 
68,000  miles  of  railroads,  and  the  Government  of  the  United  States, 
besides  giving  sixty  millions  in  money,  has  given  to  internal  commerce 
over  200,000,000  acres  of  the  public  domain — more  than  New  York,  New 
Jersey,  Pennsylvania,  Ohio,  and  Maryland  combined.  And  meantime 
she  has  protected  by  tariff  every  article  that  the  American  artisan  and 
the  American  capitalist  would  invest  in  the  manufacture  of.  But  for  the 
foreign  commerce  of  this  country  what  has  she  done  ?  Left  it  to  the 
alien  and  the  stranger,  and  in  the  last  ten  years  the  value  of  the  prod- 
ucts carried  between  this  country  and  foreign  countries  has  exceeded 
$11,000,000,000  a  year,  out  of  the  carrying  of  which  somebody  has 
made  $110,000,000  per  annum — a  sum  far  larger  than  the  public  debt. 
And  who  has  made  this  money  ?  France,  England,  Germany— every- 
body excepting  the  United  States.  Think  of  it !  $110,000,000,  in  gold 
coin,  has  gone  out  of  the  commerce  of  this  country  into  the  commerce 
of  other  countries.  Can  New  York  stand  this  ?  Can  this  great  port 
sustain  such  loss  as  this,  with  all  her  unbounded  advantages  of  position 
and  resources,  and  vnth  the  magnificent  continental  commerce  that 
stands  behind  her  ?  I  say,  gentlemen,  that  if  the  carrying  trade  of  this 
country,  aggregating  $110,000,000,  is  permanently  turned  from  us,  then 
the  question  of  specie  payments  becomes  one  of  far  more  complicated 
difficulty  than  it  is  to-day,  and  the  only  way  to  make  that  question  easier 
of  solution  is  to  turn  that  current  of  gold  from  those  coffers  into  our 
owiu  I  said  just  now  that  I  have  come  from  a  commercial  State  ;  but 
our  State  is  a  State  that  flourishes  with  fleets  of  sailing  ships,  and  the  day 


AMERICAN  SHIPPING.  95 

of  sailing  vessels  in  commerce  is  over.  The  North  Atlantic  commerce 
is  in  the  hands  of  the  steamships  to-day,  and  of  this  your  own  commerce, 
from  your  own  port  of  New  York,  represents  at  least  2,000  vessels 
of  1,000  tons  each,  and  it  is  all  in  the  hands  of  Europeans.  An  old 
ship  captain  was  once  telling  me  of  the  value  of  commerce.  He  was 
one  of  those  wise,  thrifty  captains  of  the  old  time,  who  owned. a  share 
of  his  vessel  himself,  and  some  of  you,  doubtless,  have  met  a  few  of  his 
class.  He  said,  "People  don't  understand  this  commercial  question. 
I  once  took  a  load  of  coal  from  Cardiff  to  Valparaiso,  and  I  got  consid- 
erable more  for  carrying  it  than  the  coal  was  worth.  Then  I  took  back 
a  cargo  of  guano  from  the  Chinchas,  and  I  was  paid  more  for  carrying 
that  than  the  cargo  was  worth  ;  and  so  I  made  more  out  of  the  wind 
and  waves  than  these  merchants  did  with  all  their  risk  and  shrewd- 
ness."    And  this  is  what  commerce  does. 

But  since  that  time  great  changes  have  taken  place  in  the  methods  of 
commerce,  and  great  changes  are  going  on  to-day.  Lord  Beaconsfield 
has  said  that  in  the  last  ten  years  the  loss  to  the  landed  estates  of 
Great  Britain  has  amounted  to  £%,cxyQ,Qoo  sterling.  Now  this  great 
loss  is  easily  accounted  for,  if  we  look  for  it.  It  is  a  result  of  the  prog- 
ress made  in  the  means  and  facilities  of  cheap  transportation.  To-day 
you  can  put  a  barrel  of  flour  or  a  bushel  of  wheat  from  Chicago  into 
Liverpool  at  a  cheaper  rate  than  you  could  bring  it  ten  years  ago  from 
Buffalo  to  New  York.  With  this  cheap  rate  for  freights,  therefore,  the 
great  landed  estates  of  England,  that  are  rented  at  £2  to  £2  los.  per 
acre,  cannot  pretend  to  compete  with  products  that  are  raised  on  lands 
the  fee-simple  of  which  is  not  half  so  much  as  the  annual  rental  of 
the  English  lands.  In  view  of  these  facts,  I  say  we  are  destined  to 
feed  the  world,  because  we  can  do  it  cheaper  than  anybody  else  can  do 
it.  We  are,  in  fact,  doing  that  to-day,  and  yet  we  are  weekly  losing 
the  opportunity  to  reap  those  vast  profits  that  come  from  the  carrying 
trade  of  our  own  products.  There  is  no  reason  why  this  should  be  so. 
There  are  persons  here,  I  dare  say,  that  can  remember  when  Clinton's 
Ditch  (the  Erie  Canal)  had  the  water  let  into  it.  Nobody  appears  will- 
ing, I  see,  to  acknowledge  such  antiquity  !  [A  voice — ' '  Yes,  yes, 
here  !  "]  Well,  you  all  probably  have  heard  of  it.  Why,  the  tonnage 
from  New  York  to  Buffalo  was  $85  a  ton  the  year  before  that  "ditch  " 
was  opened,  but  it  fell  to  $9  a  ton  a  year  afterward.  That  was  con- 
sidered a  marvel.  And  yet  that  is  more  than  it  is  to-day  from  the  far 
Northwest,  from  Minneapolis  to  the  principal  ports  of  Europe. 

There  is  nothing  that  we  have  not  done  in  this  country  to  encourage 


96  JAMES    G.    BLAINE. 

railroad  building.  We  have  gone  wild  on  that.  We  have  built  them 
where  they  were  needed,  and  we  have  built  them  where  they  were  not 
needed.  We  have  built  those  that  paid  well  with  much  doubt  and 
blind  distrust  ;  and  we  have  rushed  with  blind  confidence  into  the 
building  of  roads  that,  after  they  were  built,  didn't  pay  a  penny.  In 
this  multiplication  of  lines  of  transportation  we  have  brought  all  our 
vast  national  products  to  the  seaboard,  and  think  that  that  is  the  end  of 
the  line.  We  have  reaped  the  products  of  it  so  far,  and  then  are  will- 
ing to  let  foreigners  have  the  rest  of  it.  WTiy,  it  is  one  continuous  route 
from  Chicago  to  Liverpool ;  but  we  take  i,ock>  miles  and  give  3,000 
miles  to  the  foreigner,  and  that  is  the  way  we  are  dividing  our  carrying 
trade.  Why  should  we  not  carry  it  across  the  sea  if  they  can  make  a 
profit  in  doing  it  ? 

As  I  said  at  the  outset  of  my  somewhat  rambling  remarks,  if  you  ad- 
dressed this  toast  to  me,  it  is  to  remind  me  that  all  my  adjurations  and 
declarations  up  to  this  time  have  been  futile.  If  you  intend  it  as  a 
declaration  of  the  Chamber  of  Commerce,  that  its  influence  and  re- 
sources, and  the  influence  of  the  vast  forces  of  our  country,  are  to  be 
used  in  the  effort  for  a  revival  of  American  commerce,  you  may  consider 
the  thing  is  accomplished.  "  If  it  is  possible,  it  is  done  already.  If  it 
is  impossible,  you  will  see  that  it  is  done."  You  can  apply  the  Talley- 
rand motto  to  this  question.  You  can  do  it,  and  no  other  power  in  this 
country  can  do  it  I  am  not  here,  of  course,  to  invoke  any  controversy 
on  this  matter,  but  I  am  here  to  say  that  thus  far,  so  far  as  our  legisla- 
tion is  concerned,  the  influence  of  New  York  has  not  been  felt  in  that 
direction.  When  you  get  ready  to  exert  it  let  us  hear  from  you  by  tele- 
graph. When  the  old  lady  was  training  her  son  for  the  trapeze,  the 
boy  made  three  or  four  rather  ineffectual  efforts  to  get  over  the  bar. 
Then  she  was  heard  to  suggest,  "John  Henry  Hobbs,  if  you'll  just 
throw  your  heart  over  them  bars  your  body  will  follow."  And  so  it  is 
with  you.  If  New  York  will  throw  her  heart  into  this  matter  the  rest 
will  follow,  and  then  we  shall  have  the  commercial,  manufacturing,  and 
agricultural  interests  of  our  country  going  forward  hand  in  hand,  as  they 
should  go,  mutually  supporting  each  other.  I  know  that  there  is  a  dif- 
ference of  opinion  as  to  the  means  by  which  this  is  to  be  accomplished. 
One  man  says,  ' '  Tear  down  your  navigation  laws,  and  let  us  have  free 
ships."  Now  I  am  opposed  to  that,  because  that  does  not  tend  to 
build  up  American  commerce.  I  don't  believe  in  false  trade-marks. 
I  don't  believe  that  buying  a  British  ship,  and  calling  her  an  American 
ship,  makes  her  an  American  ship.     I  believe  that  this  very  day  and 


AMERICAN  SHIPPING.  97 

hour  every  single  article  that  goes  into  the  manufacture  of  a  ship  can 
be  produced  and  made  as  well  here  as  in  any  spot  on  this  earth.  Now, 
you  make  a  $500,000  ship,  representing  a  tonnage  of  say  3,500  tons. 
Five  thousand  dollars  represent  the  cost  of  the  original  raw  material, 
and  f  495,000  represents  the  value  of  the  labor  and  skill  to  be  put  on 
those  materials  by  American  hands.  I  say  that  I  am  opposed  to  pay- 
ing that  $495,000  outside  of  this  country.  Just  so  long  as  this  country 
fails  to  become,  or  delays  its  arrival  at  the  position  of  a  great  and  tri- 
umphant commercial  nation,  just  so  long  it  is  defeating  the  ends  of 
Providence.  We  have  17,000  miles  of  coast  line,  looking  toward 
Europe,  Asia,  and  Africa,  giving  us  a  larger  sea  frontage  than  all  Europe, 
beginning  at  Archangel  and  running  to  the  pillars  of  Hercules,  and  be- 
yond them  to  the  gates  of  Trebizond.  Ralph  Waldo  Emerson  has 
said  that  England  was  great,  because  she  had  the  best  business  stand 
on  the  globe.  That  was  perhaps  once  true.  But  it  is  true  no  longer. 
To-day  the  best  business  stand  is  changed,  and  it  is  to  be  found  in  the 
United  States,  and  your  great  imperial  city,  with  its  matchless  com- 
mercial connections  and  position,  and  its  magnificent  harbor,  is  destined 
to  be,  under  the  guidance  of  its  merchants,  what  London  has  dreamed 
of,  but  never  yet  has  realized. 

At  another  time,in  answer  to  a  question  in  the  House, 
he  made  clear  the  ground  upon  which  protectionists 
stand  in  regard  to  American  shipping. 

Mr.  Allison  said  :  "  I  want  my  friend  from  Maine  to 
tell  us  why  they  ask  for  free  trade  in  ship-building,  and 
insist  upon  protection  for  every  other  branch  of  manu- 
facturing industry  ? " 

Mr.  Blaine  :  "  I  will  answer  the  gentleman  in  a  word, 
that  the  shipping  interest  is  differently  situated.  When 
you  built  a  ship  for  the  commerce  of  the  world,  you 
send  it  abroad  to  compete  with  every  other  ship  in 
every  other  country.  You  are  unable  by  your  laws  to 
give  her  any  protection  or  to  prevent  the  greatest  com- 
petition from  every  other  nation  in  the  world.  When 
7 


98  JAMES  G.   BLAINE. 

you  protect  your  manufactures  at  home  by  laying  a 
duty  upon  the  same  manufactures  of  other  countries, 
why,  sir,  you  shut  out  the  entire  competition  of  the 
world.  If  you  levy  an  internal  revenue  tax  on  our 
manufactures  here,  you  at  the  same  time  raise  the  tariff 
duty  in  order  that  the  internal  tax  may  not  depress  the 
home  manufactures  or  give  an  advantage  to  the  foreign 
article.  You  raise  the  tariff  in  order  that  you  may  shut 
out  foreign  competition.  If  the  gentleman  from  Iowa 
cannot  see  the  difference  between  a  vessel  launched 
and  that  departs  for  foreign  ports  not  deriving  any  ben- 
efit from  our  laws,  and  which  has  to  compete  with  all 
the  other  nations  of  the  world — if  he  cannot  see  the  dif- 
ference between  that  and  the  manufactures  which  are 
protected  by  a  high  class  of  duties,  he  must  then  con- 
clude that  his  logic  is  false. 

**  I  say  further,  Mr.  Speaker,  that  I  object  entirely  to 
this  being  considered  a  bounty  to  the  ship-builder.  I 
object  utterly  to  it.  I  deny  it.  I  deny  that  it  is  a 
bounty.  I  say  that  all  the  ship-builders  ask  is  to  be  re- 
lieved from  their  burdens.  There  is  a  wide  distinction 
in  the  logic  and  the  statement  of  the  case.  You  find 
no  protection  to  these  ships.  If  I  build  a  ship  on  the 
banks  of  the  Kennebec,  send  her  to  Liverpool,  and  she 
meets  a  ship  from  the  banks  of  the  St.  John,  or  from 
any  other  part  of  the  world,  now  what  protection  do 
your  laws  give  her  over  the  foreign  ship  ?  What  protec- 
tion do  you  give  her  ?     Not  the  slightest  in  the  world." 

Speaking   again    in  the  House  (February    ii,    1876) 


AMERICAN  SHIPPING.  99 

upon  the  currency  and  the  relation  of  paper  money  to 
the  shipping  interest  he  said  :  "  One  great  and  leading 
interest  of  my  own  and  other  States  has  suffered,  still 
suffers,  and  will  continue  to  suffer  as  long  as  the  cur- 
rency is  of  irredeemable  paper.  I  mean  the  ship-build- 
ing and  navigation  interest — one  that  does  more  for  the 
country  and  asks  less  of  it  than  any  other  except  the 
agricultural  ;  an  interest  that  represents  our  distinctive 
nationality  upon  all  seas  and  in  all  climes  ;  an  interest 
more  intensely  and  essentially  American  than  any  others 
that  fall  under  the  legislative  power  of  the  Government, 
and  which  asks  only  to-day  to  be  left  where  the  found- 
ers of  the  Republic  placed  it  one  hundred  years  ago. 
Give  us  the  same  basis  of  currency  that  our  great  com- 
petitors of  the  British  empire  enjoy,  and  we  will,  within 
the  lifetime  of  those  living,  float  a  larger  tonnage  under 
the  American  flag  than  was  ever  enrolled  by  one  nation- 
ality since  the  science  of  navigation  has  been  known 
among  men.  Ay !  more.  Sir  :  give  as  the  specie  basis 
and  the  merchant  marine  of  America,  sailing  into  all 
zones  and  gathering  gain  in  all  continents,  will  bring 
back  to  our  shores  its  golden  profits  and  supply  to  us 
that  coin  which  will  steady  our  system  and  offset  the 
drains  that  weaken  us  in  other  directions.  But  ships 
built  on  the  paper  basis  cannot  compete  with  the  lower- 
priced  ones  of  the  gold  basis,  and  whoever  advocates  a 
perpetuity  of  paper  money  in  this  country  confesses  his 
readiness  and  willingness  to  sacrifice  the  navigation 
and  commercial  interests  for  all  time. 


100  JAMES   G.    BLAINE. 

"  It  would  be  an  unpardonable  weakness  in  our  people 
— always  heroic  when  heroism  is  demanded — to  doubt 
their  own  capacity  to  maintain  specie  payment.  I  am 
not  willing  myself  to  acknowledge  that  as  a  people  we 
are  less  honorable,  less  courageous,  or  less  competent 
than  were  our  ancestors  in  1790  ;  still  less  am  I  ready 
to  own  that  the  people  of  the  entire  Union  have  not  the 
pluck  and  the  capacity  of  our  friends  and  kinsmen  in 
California  ;  and  last  of  all,  would  I  confess  that  the 
United  States  of  America,  with  44,000,000  of  inhabitants, 
with  a  territory  surpassing  all  Europe  in  area,  and,  I 
might  almost  say,  all  the  world  in  fertility  of  resources, 
are  not  able  to  do  what  a  handful  of  British  subjects, 
scattered  from  Cape  Race  to  Vancouver's  Island,  can  do 
so  easily,  so  steadily,  and  so  successfully." 


X. 

CIVIL  SERVICE  REFORM. 

There  has  been  some  rather  foolish  talk  about  Mr. 
Blaine's  position  on  the  question  of  Civil  Service  Re- 
form. It  is  founded  in  part  upon  an  ignorance  or  for- 
getfulness  of  certain  facts,  the  most  important  of  vvrhich 
is  that  he  was  not  a  member  of  Congress  when  the 
Civil  Service  rules  which  are  now  operating  so  admira- 
bly were  adopted,  and  was  not  in  a  position  to  publicly 
make  known  his  ideas  upon  the  subject.  But  they  were 
already  sufficiently  announced,  and,  to  those  who  con- 
cerned themselves  about  the  matter,  were  well  under- 
stood. 

When  the  discussion  arose  in  its  earlier  forms  he 
was  in  Congress,  and  recorded  himself  unmistakably 
upon  the  issue,  going  so  far  as  to  himself  propose  an 
amendment  to  a  civil  service  bill.  The  House  having 
under  consideration  a  law  prohibiting  contributions  to 
election  funds  by  persons  employed  in  the  Government 
service,  Mr.  Blaine  offered  an  amendment  making  the 
provisions  of  the  bill  more  rigorous,  by  including  in  its 


102  JAMES  G.  BLAINE. 

scope  Senators,  Representatives,  and  Delegates  in  Con- 
gress. The  amendment  was  carried.  In  speaking  for 
it  he  said  incidentally  : 

**  I  desire  to  congratulate  the  House  upon  the  formal 
surrender,  if  I  may  use  that  word,  of  that  extreme  doc- 
trine of  State  rights  which  the  other  side  of  the  chamber 
have  for  many  years  held,  in  regard  to  the  power  of  the 
General  Government  in  any  way  to  regulate  elections  in 
the  States.  It  has  been  the  function  and,  as  they  con- 
sidered it,  the  duty  of  the  Republican  party  in  Congress 
to  pass  certain  enactments,  designed  to  enforce  purity 
and  fairness  in  elections.  They  have  usually  been  very 
strenuously  resisted  by  our  friends  on  the  other  side,  on 
the  ground  that  the  National  Government  had  no  power 
whatever  to  interfere  with  or  to  control  elections  in  the 
States. 

"This  bill  proposes  to  go  down  into  the  States  and  to 
the  counties,  and  to  make  it  a  penal  offence,  punishable 
in  the  courts  of  the  United  States,  for  any  officers  to  con- 
tribute any  money  toward  even  a  county  election.  I 
think  it  a  very  suggestive,  and  to  me  it  is  a  very  grati- 
fying, circumstance,  that  the  Committee  on  the  Judiciary 
of  this  House,  composed  of  very  able  gentlemen,  a  large 
majority  of  them  Democrats,  and  the  chairman  a  States- 
rights  Democrat,  have  reported — and,  as  I  understand  it, 
unanimously — a  bill  proposing  to  regulate  elections  in 
States  and  counties.  Now  this,  Mr.  Speaker,  I  regard 
as  a  very  significant  circumstance  in  the  political  history 
of  the  times  ;  and  it  is  a  very  gratifying  circumstance, 


CIVIL   SERVICE    REFORM.  IO3 

because  from  it  we  may  feel  assured  that  the  Democratic 
party  will  unite  with  the  Republican  party  in  all  meas- 
ures necessary  to  secure  purity  and  fairness  and  equality 
of  elections  throughout  the  United  States.  It  was  very 
well  remarked  yesterday  by  the  gentleman  from  Massa- 
chusetts (Mr.  Hoar),  who  offered  an  amendment  to  this 
bill,  that  the  worst  form  of  government  in  the  world  to 
live  under  is  a  government  of  the  people,  when  the 
majority  is  bribed  ;  and  he  stated  very  well  that  there 
was  only  one  thing  worse  than  the  bribing  of  voters,  and 
that  was  the  fraudulent  count  of  the  votes  after  they 
were  deposited  in  the  ballot-box." 

No  one,  it  may  parenthetically  be  said,  has  been  more 
strenuous  and  constant  in  endeavors  for  the  purity  of 
the  ballot — the  first  need  of  a  republic  and  a  thing 
without  which  reform  in  the  civil  service  would  be  an 
idle  after-thought — than  Mr.  Blaine.  His  constant 
watchfulness  for  the  sacred  rights  of  the  voter  is  a  mat- 
ter as  to  which  no  reader  of  the  political  history  of  the 
last  twenty  years  can  well  be  doubtful.  Every  phase 
of  the  subject  has  at  some  time  been  touched  by  him, 
and  the  pages  of  the  Congressional  Record  are  filled  with 
his  vigorous  words  upon  it. 

The  question  of  tenure  of  office,  as  well  as  that  of  polit- 
ical contributions  by  office-holders,  has  been  considered 
by  Mr.  Blaine,  and  the  following  statement  of  the 
ground  taken  by  him  on  this  point,  made  by  Harper's 
Weekly^  September  23,  1882,  is  as  fair  a  presentation  of 
it  as  could  be  asked  : 


104  JAMES   G.    BLAINE. 

"■  The  speeches  of  Mr.  Blaine  in  Maine  and  of  Senator 
Harrison  in  Indiana,  with  the  brief  and  unmistakable 
order  of  Mayor  Low  in  Brooklyn,  relieving  every  em- 
ploye of  all  fear  of  the  local  Hubbell,  and  the  signifi- 
cant declaration  of  more  than  a  thousand  leading  citi- 
zens of  Massachusetts  of  all  parties  that  they  will  vote 
for  no  Representative  in  Congress  whose  character  and 
record  do  not  promise  an  earnest  and  aggressive  action 
for  reform,  are  all  unmistakable  signs  of  a  public  con- 
viction and  purpose  which  will  certainly  have  their  way. 
.  .  .  Mr.  Blaine  pronounced  plainly  for  some  kind 
of  reform,  and  Mr.  Blaine  said  in  detail  that  he  should 
be  glad  to  see  every  Federal  officer,  however  honorable 
his  position,  appointed  for  a  specific  term,  during  which 
he  could  not  be  removed,  except  for  cause,  to  be  speci- 
fied, proved,  and  recorded,  and  for  subordinate  officers 
he  thought  that  seven  years  would  be  a  proper  term  of 
office." 

He  spoke  from  an  administrative  experience  then,  as 
he  did  a  short  time  before,  when,  in  eulogizing  the  dead 
President,  he  said  : 

''In  the  beginning  of  his  Presidential  life  Garfield's 
experience  did  not  yield  him  pleasure  or  satisfaction. 
The  duties  that  engross  so  large  a  portion  of  the  Presi- 
dent's time  were  distasteful  to  him,  and  were  unfavor- 
ably contrasted  with  his  legislative  work.  *  I  have 
been  dealing  all  these  years  with  ideas,'  he  impatiently 
exclaimed  one  day,  'and  here  I  am  dealing  only  with 
persons.     I  have  been  heretofore  treating  of  the  funda- 


CIVIL   SERVICE  REFORM.  IO5 

mental  principles  of  government,  and  here  I  am  consid- 
ering all  day  whether  A  or  B  shall  be  appointed  to  this 
or  that  office.'  He  was  earnestly  seeking  some  practi- 
cal way  of  correcting  the  evils  arising  from  the  distribu- 
tion of  overgrown  and  unwieldy  patronage — evils  al- 
ways appreciated  and  often  discussed  by  him,  but  whose 
magnitude  had  been  deeply  impressed  upon  his  mind 
since  his  accession  to  the  Presidency.  Had  he  lived,  a 
comprehensive  improvement  in  the  mode  of  appoint- 
ment and  in  the  tenure  of  office  would  have  been  pro- 
posed by  him,  and  with  the  aid  of  Congress  no  doubt 
perfected." 

As  Secretary  of  State  he,  as  well  as  General  Garfield, 
had  been  beset  by  office-seekers.  The  impatient  excla- 
mation of  the  President  may  fairly  be  believed  to  have 
been  not  less  that  of  the  head  of  his  Cabinet,  and  surely 
that  officer,  intimate  in  his  councils,  had  a  share  in  form- 
ing the  plan  which  the  President  intended  submitting 
to  Congress. 


XI. 

THE  AMNESTY  BILL. 

One  of  the  matters  as  to  which  Mr.  Blaine  was  most 
zealous  during  his  last  year  in  the  House,  was  in  his 
opposition  to  granting  amnesty  to  Jefferson  Davis, 
Mr.  Randall  introduced  in  the  House,  December  15, 
1875,  what  is  known  as  the  Amnesty  Bill,  removing  the 
political  disabilities  imposed  by  the  third  section  of 
the  fourteenth  amendment  to  the  Constitution.  On 
January  6,  1876,  Mr.  Blaine  obtained  consent  to  have 
printed  the  following  amendment,  and  gave  notice  that 
he  would  offer  it  as  an  amendment  to  this  bill  the  suc- 
ceeding Monday  : 

"  Be  it  enacted,  etc..  That  all  persons  now  under  the 
disabilities  imposed  by  the  fourteenth  amendment  to 
the  Constitution  of  the  United  States,  with  the  excep- 
tion of  Jefferson  Davis,  late  president  of  the  so-called 
Confederate  States,  shall  be  relieved  of  such  disabilities 
on  their  appearing  before  any  judge  of  a  United  States 
court,  and  taking  and  subscribing  in  open  court  the 
following  oath,  to  be  duly  attested  and  recorded,  namely  : 


THE  AMNESTY  BILL.  10/ 

I,  A.  B.,  do  solemnly  swear,  or  affirm,  that  I  will  support 
and  defend  the  Constitution  of  the  United  States  against 
all  enemies,  foreign  and  domestic  ;  and  that  I  will  bear 
true  faith  and  allegiance  to  the  same  ;  that  I  take  this 
obligation  freely,  without  any  mental  reservation  or  pur- 
pose of  evasion  ;  and  that,  to  the  best  of  my  knowl- 
edge and  ability,  I  will  well  and  faithfully  discharge 
the  duties  of  a  citizen  of  the  United  States." 

It  is  not  possible  to  print  here  all  that  Mr.  Blaine 
said  in  support  of  his  amendment,  but  it  will  be  as  well 
to  make  the  reader  acquainted  with  some  parts  of  it. 

''Every  time,"  declared  he,  "that  the  question  of  am- 
nesty has  been  brought  before  the  House  by  a  gentleman 
on  that  side  (the  Democratic)  for  the  last  two  Congresses, 
it  has  been  done  with  a  certain  flourish  of  magnanimity 
which  is  an  imputation  on  this  side  of  the  House,  as 
though  the  Republican  party,  which  has  been  in  charge 
of  the  Government  for  the  last  twelve  or  fourteen  years, 
had  been  bigoted,  narrow,  and  illiberal — as  though  cer- 
tain very  worthy  and  deserving  gentlemen  in  the  South- 
ern States  were  ground  down  to-day  under  a  great 
tyranny  and  oppression  from  which  the  hard-heartedness 
of  this  side  of  the  House  cannot  possibly  be  prevailed 
upon  to  relieve  them. 

"  If  I  may  anticipate  as  much  wisdom  as  ought  to  char- 
acterize that  side  of  the  House,  this  may  be  the  last 
time  that  amnesty  will  be  discussed  in  the  American 
Congress.  I  therefore  desire,  and  under  the  rules  of 
the  House,  with  no  thanks  to  that  side  for  the  privilege, 


I08  JAMES  G.  BLAINE. 

to  place  on  record  just  what  the  Republican  party  has 
done  in  this  matter.  I  wish  to  place  it  there  as  an  im- 
perishable record  of  liberality  and  large-mindedness 
and  magnanimity  and  mercy  far  beyond  any  that  has 
ever  been  shown  before  in  the  world's  history  by  con- 
queror to  conquered. 

"  With  the  gentleman  from  Pennsylvania  (Mr.  Randall) 
I  entered  this  Congress  in  the  midst  of  the  hot  flame  of 
war,  when  the  Union  was  rocking  to  its  foundations, 
and  no  man  knew  whether  we  were  to  have  a  country  or 
not.  I  think  the  gentleman  from  Pennsylvania  would 
have  been  surprised  when  he  and  I  were  novices  in  the 
XXXVIIIth  Congress,  if  he  could  have  foreseen,  before 
our  joint  service  ended,  we  should  have  seen  sixty-one 
gentlemen,  then  in  arms  against  us,  admitted  to  equal 
privileges  with  ourselves,  and  all  by  the  grace  and  mag- 
nanimity of  the  Republican  party.  When  the  Avar 
ended,  according  to  the  universal  usage  of  nations,  the 
Government,  then  under  the  exclusive  control  of  the 
Republican  party,  had  the  right  to  determine  what 
should  be  the  political  status  of  the  people  who  had  been 
defeated  in  war.  Did  we  inaugurate  any  measures  of 
persecution  ?  Did  we  set  forth  on  a  career  of  blood- 
shed and  vengeance  ?  Did  we  take  property  ?  Did  we 
prohibit  any  man  all  his  civil  rights  ?  Did  we  take 
from  him  the  right  he  enjoys  to-day,  to  vote  ? 

"  Not  at  all.  But  instead  of  a  general  and  sweeping 
condemnation  the  Republican  party  placed  in  the  four- 
teenth amendment  to  the  Constitution  only  this  exclu- 


THE   AMNESTY  BILL.  IO9 

sion  ;  after  considering  tlie  whole  subject,  it  ended  in 
simply  coming  down  to  this  : 

"  '  That  no  person  shall  be  a  Senator  or  Representative 
in  Congress,  or  elector  of  President  and  Vice-President, 
or  hold  any  office,  civil  or  military,  under  the  United 
States,  or  under  any  State,  who,  having  previously  taken 
an  oath,  as  a  member  of  Congress,  or  as  an  officer  of 
the  United  States,  or  as  a  member  of  any  State  Legisla- 
ture, or  as  an  executive  or  judicial  officer  of  any  State 
to  support  the  Constitution  of  the  United  States,  shall 
have  engaged  in  insurrection  or  rebellion  against  the 
same,  or  given  aid  or  comfort  to  the  enemies  thereof. 
But  Congress  may,  by  a  vote  of  two-thirds  of  each  House 
remove  such  disability.' 

*'  It  has  been  variously  estimated  that  this  section  at 
the  time  of  its  original  insertion  in  the  Constitution  in- 
cluded somewhere  from  fourteen  to  thirty  thousand 
persons  ;  as  nearly  as  I  can  gather  together  the  facts  of 
the  case,  it  included  about  eighteen  thousand  men  in 
the  South.  It  let  go  every  man  of  the  hundreds  of 
thousands — or  millions,  if  you  please — who  had  been 
engaged  in  the  attempt  to  destroy  this  Government, 
and  only  held  those  under  disability  who,  in  addition  to 
revolting,  had  violated  a  special  and  peculiar  and  per- 
sonal oath  to  support  the  Constitution  of  the  United 
States.     It  was  limited  to  that. 

"Well,  that  disability  was  hardly  placed  upon  the 
South  until  we  began  in  this  Hall,  and  in  the  other  wing 
of  the  Capitol,   Congress  then  being  more  than  two- 


no  JAMES  G.  BLAINE. 

thirds  Republican  in  both  branches,  to  remit  it,  and  the 
very  first  bill  took  that  disability  off  from  1,578  citizens 
of  the  South  ;  and  the  next  bill  took  it  off  from  3,526 
gentlemen — by  wholesale.  Many  of  the  gentlemen  on 
this  floor  came  in  for  grace  and  amnesty  in  those  two 
bills.  After  these  bills  specifying  individuals  had  passed, 
and  others,  of  smaller  numbers,  which  I  will  not  recount, 
the  Congress  of  the  United  States  in  1872,  by  two-thirds 
of  both  branches,  still  being  two-thirds  Republican, 
passed  this  general  law  : 

"' That  all  political  disabilities  imposed  by  the  third  section  of  the 
fourteenth  article  of  amendments  of  the  Constitution  of  the  United 
States,  are  hereby  removed  from  all  persons  whomsoever,  except  Sen- 
ators and  Representatives  of  the  XXXVIth  and  XXXVIIth  Congresses, 
officers  in  the  judicial,  military,  and  naval  services  of  the  United  States, 
heads  of  Departments,  and  foreign  ministers  of  the  United  States.' 

"Since  that  act  passed  a  very  considerable  number  of 
the  gentlemen  which  it  left  under  disability  have  been 
relieved  specially,  byname,  in  separate  acts.  But  I  be- 
lieve, Mr.  Speaker,  in  no  single  instance  since  the  act 
of  May  22,  1872,  have  the  disabilities  been  taken  from 
any  man  except  upon  his  respectful  petition  to  the 
Congress  of  the  United  States  that  they  should  be  re- 
moved. And  I  believe  in  no  instance,  except  one,  have 
they  been  refused  upon  the  petition  being  presented. 
I  believe  in  no  instance,  except  one,  has  there  been  any 
other  than  a  unanimous  vote.     .     .     . 

"There  is  no  proposition  here  to  punish  Jefferson 
Davis.     Nobody  is   seeking  to  do  it.     That  time   has 


THE   AMNESTY  BILL.  112 

gone  by.  The  statute  of  limitations,  common  feelings 
of  humanity,  will  supervene  for  his  benefit.  But  what 
you  wish  us  to  do  is  to  declare,  by  a  vote  of  two-thirds 
of  both  branches  of  Congress,  that  we  consider  Mr.  Davis 
worthy  to  fill  the  highest  offices  in  the  United  States  if 
he  can  get  a  constituency  to  endorse  him.  He  is  a 
voter ;  he  can  buy  and  he  can  sell ;  he  can  go  and  he 
can  come.  He  is  as  free  as  any  man  in  the  United 
States.  There  is  a  long  list  of  subordinate  offices  to 
which  he  is  eligible.  This  bill  proposes,  in  view  of  that 
record,  that  Mr.  Davis,  by  a  two-thirds  vote  of  the  Sen- 
ate and  a  two-thirds  vote  of  the  House,  be  declared 
eligible  and  worthy  to  fill  any  office  up  to  the  Presi- 
dency of  the  United  States," 


XII. 

AMERICAN    CITIZENSHIP. 

Mr.  Blaine  has  always  been  distinguished  for  his  virile 
Americanism  ;  but  he  has  never  taken  a  firmer  or  more 
creditable  stand  than  that  which  he  assumed  in  regard 
to  English  arrests  of  naturalized  Americans  in  1867-8-9. 
The  principles  for  which  he  in  common  with  other  Con- 
gressmen contested  was  a  highly  important  one,  and 
England,  after  several  years  of  hesitation  and  resistance, 
granted  the  position  fully.  It  consisted  in  the  affirma- 
tion that  a  na'turalized  citizen  of  the  United  States  was 
entitled  to  the  same  treatment  abroad  which  w^ould  be 
accorded  a  native  American.  England  urged  the  an- 
cient principle  of  the  common  law.  This  held  that  it 
was  impossible  for  one  born  under  the  sovereignty  of 
England  to  disclaim  allegiance  to  her.  Once  an  Eng- 
lishman one  was  ahvays  an  Englishman.  The  occasion 
of  the  protest  made  by  Mr.  Blaine  and  others  w^as  the 
arrest  in  England  of  Burke,  Warren,  Costello,  and  other 
naturalized  Irish-Americans,  for  concern  in  Fenian  plots. 


AMERICAN  CITIZENSHIP.  1 13 

This,  says  a  writer  in  Lalor's  Political  Encyclopaedia,  in 
the  course  of  an  impartial  discussion  of  these  cases,  "was 
the  signal  for  a  loud  outcry  against  Mr.  Adams,  our 
minister  at  London,  for  his  alleged  failure  to  exert  him- 
self actively  in  behalf  of  men  who  were  engaged  in  un- 
questionably seditious  proceedings,  and  who  sought  to 
use  their  certificates  of  naturalization  to  protect  them 
against  the  law  of  the  land  whose  provisions  they  were 
openly  violating.  The  course  pursued  by  Mr.  Adams, 
like  that  recently  followed  by  Mr.  Lowell,  was  wholly  in 
accordance  with  the  usual  practice  of  our  Government, 
and  received  the  unqualified  endorsement  of  the  State 
Department.  He  was  firm  to  insist  upon  the  thoroughly 
American  principle,  that  a  naturalized  American  should 
be  treated  upon  the  same  footing  as  a  native-born  sub- 
ject of  the  United  States  ;  at  the  same  time  he  was  too 
much  of  a  statesman  not  to  know  that  one  who  violates 
the  law  of  the  land,  whether  he  be  a  subject  or  an  alien, 
cannot  claim  exemption  from  the  penalty ;  and  he  was 
too  much  of  a  diplomate  not  to  foresee  that  an  attempt  to 
oppose  the  principle  of  territorial  sovereignty,  without 
being  able  to  show  that  the  law  whose  enforcement  was 
protested  against  was  abhorrent  to  the  customs  of  civil- 
ized nations,  would  only  involve  the  mortifying  result  of 
placing  his  government  in  a  position  which  ultimately 
they  would  be  forced  to  abandon.  So  far  from  display- 
ing an  un-American  weakness  in  yielding  to  foreign  ag- 
gression, his  attitude  was  a  model  of  loyal  firmness  and 
diplomatic  tact.    His  representations  to  the  British  For- 


114  JAMES  G.  BLAINE. 

eign  Secretary,  backed  by  the  sanction  of  judicial  prece- 
dent and  international  practice,  showed  clearly  enough 
that  he  would  be  firm  in  resisting  any  encroachments 
upon  the  rights  of  American  citizens,  as  such,  while  at 
the  same  time  he  avoided  even  the  appearance  of  an  un- 
generous and  irritating  insistence  upon  purely  abstract 
principles." 

It  was  in  Costello's  case  that  Mr.  Blaine  was  espe- 
cially active.  This  man  had  been  arrested  while  in  Ire- 
land in  1867,  and  tried  for  a  speech  made  in  1865,  as  an 
American  citizen,  in  New  York.  The  speech  was 
deemed  treasonable  by  the  British  Government,  and 
Costello  was  tried  upon  this  charge.  He  was  convicted 
under  the  act  of  1848,  which  made  especial  declaration 
of  England's  right  to  punish  British-born  subjects  for 
words  or  acts  of  treason  spoken  or  done  in  a  foreign 
land.  The  prisoner  was  sentenced  to  sixteen  years 
penal  servitude.  His  plea  of  American  citizenship  was 
disregarded  upon  the  ground  that  no  treaty  obligation 
could  be  alleged  against  the  Act,  claiming  as  a  British 
subject  a  man  native  to  British  soil. 

When  Costello  was  removed  to  Millbank  prison,  Mr. 
Blaine  urged  the  question  upon  the  attention  of  Con- 
gress, and  mainly  by  his  efforts  Costello  and  other  like 
prisoners  who  were  naturalized  Americans  were  set  at 
liberty.  The  agitation  resulted  in  the  treaty  of  1870,  in 
which  Great  Britain  yielded  the  point,  and  entirely 
abandoned  the  doctrine  of  a  perpetual  allegiance.  It 
w^as  a  signal  victory  won  upon  a  point  of  the  most  vital 


AMERICAN  CITIZENSHIP.  1 1  5 

moment  to  all  Americans  by  adoption.  It  is  to  Mr. 
Blaine's  advocacy  that  naturalized  citizens  owe  the 
precious  immunity  guaranteed  as  to  England  by  the 
treaty,  and  maintained  in  relation  to  other  countries  as  a 
principle  growing  out  of  it. 


XIII. 

THE    CHINESE   QUESTION. 

In  the  record  of  Mr.  Blaine's  term  of  service  as  Sen- 
ator his  position  upon  the  Chinese  question  must  have 
separate  attention.  His  speech  when  a  bill  was  first 
proposed  in  Congress  limiting  Chinese  immigration 
was  the  subject  of  much  discussion  at  the  time  ;  it  won 
him  a  wide  popularity  on  the  Pacific  coast,  and  among 
those  who  think  with  him  it  has  always  been  held  one  of 
the  most  complete  and  admirable  statements  of  their 
view  which  has  been  made  public. 

The  opposition  to  the  Chinese  in  California  first  took 
vigorous  form  in  1877.  Some  violence  accompanied 
the  expression  of  the  sentiment  against  them,  in  which 
Dennis  Kearny,  an  Irish  agitator,  was  the  leader.  The 
people  of  San  Francisco  elected  a  clergyman  named 
Kalloch  mayor  when  the  question  was  submitted  to  the 
ballot.  Mayor  Kalloch  was  adverse  to  the  immigration 
of  the  Chinese,  and  an  effort  was  made  to  prevent  it 
through  a  constitutional  amendment  which  readily  pass- 
ed the  legislature,  and  at  the  polls  received  the  approval 
of  voters  of  all  classes.  The  higher  courts,  however,  did 


THE   CHINESE    QUESTION:  11/ 

not  uphold  the  amendment,  and  the  people  of  the  Pacific 
coast  at  length  sought  relief  in  Congress.  The  bill 
which  was  introduced  restricted  the  number  of  Chinese 
passengers  on  incoming  vessels  to  fifteen.  Said  Mr. 
Blaine,  in  the  Senate,  February  14,  1879  : 

**  It  seems  to  me  that  if  we  adopt  as  a  permanent  poli- 
cy the  free  immigration  of  those  who  by  overwhelming 
votes  in  both  branches  of  Congress  we  say  shall  forever 
remain  political  and  social  pariahs  in  a  great  free 
government,  we  have  introduced  an  element  that  we 
cannot  handle.  You  cannot  stop  where  we  are  ;  you  are 
compelled  to  do  one  of  two  things,  either  exclude  the 
immigration  of  Chinese  or  include  them  in  the  great 
family  of  citizens. 

"  The  argument  is  often  put  forward  that  there  is  no 
particular  danger  of  numbers  coming  here  ;  that  it  is 
not  a  practical  question,  and  I  would  ask  the  honorable 
Senator  from  Ohio,  if  the  number  should  mount  up  in- 
to the  millions  what  would  be  his  view  then  ?  Did  it 
ever  occur  to  my  honorable  friend  that  the  vast  myriads 
of  millions  almost  as  you  might  call  them,  the  incalcu- 
lable hordes  in  China,  are  much  nearer  to  the  Pacific 
coast  of  the  United  States  in  point  of  money  and  pas- 
sage, in  point  of  expense  of  reaching  it,  than  the  people 
of  Kansas.  A  man  in  Shanghai  or  Hong-Kong  can  be 
delivered  in  San  Francisco  more  cheaply  than  a  man  in 
Omaha  now.  I  do  not  speak  of  the  Atlantic  coast,  where 
the  population  is  still  more  dense  ;  but  you  may  take  the 
Mississippi  Valley,    Illinois,  Iowa,    Nebraska,    Kansas 


Il8  JAMES   G.    BLAINE. 

Missouri,  all  the  great  commonwealths  of  that  valley, 
and  they  are,  in  point  of  expense,  further  off  from  the 
Pacific  slope  than  the  vast  hordes  in  China  and  Japan. 

"  I  am  told  by  those  who  are  familiar  with  the  com- 
mercial affairs  of  the  Pacific  side  that  a  person  can  be 
sent  from  any  of  the  great  Chinese  ports  to  San  Fran- 
cisco for  something  over  $30.  I  suppose  in  an  emi- 
grant train  over  the  Pacific  Railroad  from  Omaha,  not 
to  speak  of  the  expense  of  reaching  Omaha,  but  from 
that  point  alone,  it  will  cost  $50  a  head,  and  that  would 
be  cheap  railroad  fare  as  things  go  in  this  country.  So 
that  in  point  of  practicability — in  point  of  getting  there — 
the  Chinaman  of  to-day  has  an  advantage  over  an  Amer- 
ican laborer  in  any  part  of  the  country,  except  in  the 
case  of  those  who  are  already  on  the  Pacific  coast. 

''  Ought  we  to  exclude  them  ?  The  question  lies  in  my 
mind  thus  :  Either  the  Anglo-Saxon  race  will  possess  the 
Pacific  coast,  or  the  Mongolians  will  possess  it.  You 
give  them  the  start  to-day,  with  the  keen  thrust  of  ne- 
cessity behind  them,  and  w4th  the  ease  of  transpor- 
tation before  them,  with  the  inducements  to  come 
while  we  are  filling  up  the  other  portions  of  the  conti- 
nent, and  it  is  entirely  inevitable,  if  not  demonstrable, 
that  they  will  occupy  that  great  space  of  country  be- 
tween the  Sierras  and  the  Pacific  coast.  They  are  them- 
selves to-day  establishing  steamship  lines,  they  are  them- 
selves to  day  providing  the  means  of  transportation  ; 
and  when  gentlemen  say  that  we  admit  from  all  other 
countries,   where   do  you   find   the    slightest    parallel  ? 


THE    CHINESE   QUESTION.  Up 

And  in  a  republic  especially,  in  any  government  that 
maintains  itself,  the  unit  of  order  and  of  administra- 
tion is  in  the  family.  The  immigrants  that  come  to  us 
from  all  portions  of  the  British  isles,  from  Germany, 
from  Sweden,  from  Norway,  from  Denmark,  from 
France,  from  Spain,  from  Italy,  come  here  with  the 
idea  of  the  family  as  such  engraven  on  their  minds  and 
in  their  customs  and  in  their  habits  as  we  have  it.  The 
Asiatic  cannot  go  on  with  our  population  and  make  a 
homogeneous  element.  The  idea  of  comparing  Euro- 
pean immigration  with  an  immigration  that  has  no  re- 
gard to  family,  that  does  not  recognize  the  relation  of 
husband  and  wife,  that  does  not  observe  the  tie  of  par- 
ent and  child,  that  does  not  have  in  the  slightest  degree 
the  ennobling  and  civilizing  influences  of  the  hearth- 
stone and  the  fireside !  Why,  when  gentlemen  talk 
loosely  about  immigration  from  European  states  as  con- 
trasted with  that,  they  certainly  are  forgetting  history 
and  forgetting  themselves. 

*'  We  must  contemplate  the  fact  that  with  the  ordinary 
immigration  that  is  going  on  now,  if  the  statistics  given 
by  the  honorable  Senator  from  California  are  correct, 
you  are  going  to  have  very  soon  a  large  majority  of  the 
male  adults  of  California  non-voters  ;  and  with  the  Re- 
public organized  as  it  is  to-day,  I  make  bold  to  de- 
clare that  you  cannot  maintain  a  non-voting  class  in 
this  country.  It  was  a  necessity  to  give  the  negro  suf- 
frage. Abused  as  it  has  been  in  the  South,  curtailed 
unfairly,  it  is  still  the  shield  and  defence  of  that  race  •, 


120  JAMES    G,    BLAINE. 

and  with  all  its  imperfections,  and  all  its  abuses,  and  all 
its  shortcomings,  either  by  reason  of  his  own  ignorance 
or  by  the  tyranny  of  others,  the  suffrage  of  the  negro 
has  wrought  out,  or  has  pointed  the  way  by  which  shall 
be  wrought  out,  his  political  and  personal  salvation. 

''.The  Senator  from  Ohio  made  light  of  race  troubles. 
I  supposed  if  there  was  any  part  of  the  world  where  a 
man  would  not  make  light  of  race  troubles,  it  was  here. 
I  supposed  if  there  was  any  people  in  the  world  that 
had  a  race  trouble  on  hand,  it  was  ourselves.  I  sup- 
posed that  if  the  admonitions  of  our  own  history  were 
anything  to  us,  we  should  regard  the  race  trouble  as  the 
one  thing  to  be  dreaded,  and  the  one  thing  to  be  avoided. 
We  are  not  through  with  it  yet.  It  cost  us  a  great  many 
lives  ;  it  cost  us  a  great  many  million  of  treasure.  Does 
any  man  feel  that  we  are  safely  through  with  it  now  ? 
Does  any  man  here  to-day  assume  that  we  have  so  en- 
tirely solved  and  so  satisfactorily  settled  on  a  perma- 
nent basis  all  the  troubles  growing  out  of  the  negro 
race  trouble  that  w^e  are  prepared  to  invite  another 
one  ?  If  so,  he  views  history  different  from  myself.  If 
any  gentleman,  looking  into  the  future  of  his  country 
sees,  for  certain  sections  of  it  at  least,  peace  and  good 
order  and  absolute  freedom  from  any  trouble  growing 
out  of  race,  he  sees  with  more  sanguine  eyes  than  mine. 
With  this  trouble  upon  us  here,  not  by  our  fault,  to  de- 
liberately sit  down  and  invite  another  and  far  more  seri- 
ous trouble  seems  to  be  the  very  recklessness  of  states- 
manship. 


THE    CHINESE    QUESTION:  121 

"Treat  them  like  Christians,  my  friend  says  ;  and  yet 
I  believe  that  the  Christian  testimony  from  the  Pacific 
coast  is  that  the  conversion  of  the  Chinese  on  that  basis 
is  a  fearful  failure  ;  that  the  demoralization  of  the  white 
by  reason  of  the  contact  is  much  more  rapid  than  the  sal- 
vation of  the  Chinese  race,  and  that  up  to  this  time  there 
has  been  no  progress  whatever  made.  I  think  I  heard 
the  honorable  Senator  from  California,  who  sits  on  this 
side  of  the  chamber  (Mr.  Booth),  say  that  there  was  not, 
as  we  understand  it,  in  all  the  one  hundred  and  twenty 
thousand  Chinese,  more  or  less  (whether  I  state  the 
number  aright  or  not  does  not  matter),  there  did  not  ex- 
ist among  the  whole  of  them  the  relation  of  family. 
There  is  not  a  peasant's  cottage  inhabited  by  a  China- 
man ;  there  is  not  a  hearth-stone,  in  the  sense  we  under- 
stand it,  of  an  American  home,  or  an  English  home,  or 
a  German  home,  or  a  French  home.  There  is  not  a  do- 
mestic fireside  in  that  sense  ;  and  yet  you  say  that  it  is  en- 
tirely safe  to  sit  down  here  and  permit  that  to  grow  up 
in  our  country.  If  it  were  a  question  of  fifty  years  ago, 
I  admit  with  my  colleague  that  it  would  not  be  practica- 
ble. Means  of  communication,  ease  of  access,  cheap- 
ness of  transportation,  have  changed  the  issue  and  forced 
upon  our  attention  a  crisis  in  it.  I  am  always  disposed 
to  take  each  Senator's  statement  about  his  own  State. 
If  I  should  make  a  statement  about  my  State,  or  my  col- 
league, who  knows  more  about  it,  should  make  a  state- 
ment about  Maine,  I  should  not  feel  very  well  to  have 
it  doubted  by  other  Senators.     I  undertake  to  believe 


122  JAMES   G.    BLAINE, 

at  least  that  if  the  Congress  of  the  United  States  should 
decide  adversely,  in  effect  confirming  the  treaty  and 
the  status  of  immigration  as  it  now  is,  you  cannot  main- 
tain law  and  order  in  California  without  the  interposi- 
tion of  the  military  five  years  hence. 

"  I  do  not  justify  the  brutality  of  the  treatment  of  the 
Chinese  who  are  here.  It  is  greatly  to  be  regretted  ;  it 
is  greatly  to  be  condemned  ;  but  you  must  deal  with 
things  as  you  find  them.  If  you  foresee  a  conflict,  I  think 
it  is  a  good  deal  cheaper  and  more  direct  way  to  avoid 
the  trouble  by  preventing  the  immigration. 

"  I  have  heard  a  great  deal  about  their  cheap  labor. 
I  do  not  myself  believe  in  cheap  labor.  I  do  not  be- 
lieve that  cheap  labor  should  be  an  object  of  legislation, 
and  it  will  not  be  in  a  republic.  You  cannot  have  the 
wealthy  classes  in  a  republic  where  the  suffrage  is  uni- 
versal legislate  for  cheap  labor.  I  undertake  to  repeat 
that.  I  say  that  you  cannot  have  the  wealthy  classes 
in  a  republic  w^here  suffrage  is  universal  legislate  in  the 
interest  of  cheap  labor.  Labor  should  not  be  cheap, 
and  it  should  not  be  dear  ;  it  should  have  its  share,  and 
it  will  have  its  share.  There  is  not  a  laborer  on  the 
Pacific  coast  to-day,  I  say  that  to  my  honorable  col- 
leagues— whose  whole  life  has  been  consistent  and  uni- 
form in  defence  and  advocacy  of  the  interests  of  the 
laboring  classes — there  is  not  a  laboring  man  on  the 
Pacific  coast  to  day,  who  does  not  feel  wounded  and 
grieved  and  crushed  by  the  competition  that  comes  from 
this  source.     Then  the  answer  is,  *  Well,  are  not  Ameri- 


THE   CHINESE    QUESTION;  1 23 

can  laborers  equal  to  Chinese  laborers?*  I  answer 
that  question  by  asking  another :  Were  not  free  white 
laborers  equal  to  African  slaves  in  the  South  ?  When 
you  tell  me  that  the  Chinaman  driving  out  the  free 
American  laborer  only  proves  the  superiority  of  the 
Chinaman,  I  ask  you  did  the  African  slave  labor  driv- 
ing out  the  free  white  labor  from  the  South  prove  the 
superiority  of  slave  labor  ?  The  conditions  are  not  un- 
like, the  parallel  is  not  complete  and  yet  it  is  a  parallel. 
It  is  servile  labor  ;  it  is  not  free  labor  such  as  we  intend 
to  develop  and  encourage  and  build  up  in  this  country. 
It  is  labor  that  comes  here  under  a  mortgage.  It  is 
labor  that  comes  here  to  subsist  on  what  the  American 
laborer  cannot  subsist  on.  You  cannot  work  a  man 
who  must  have  beef  and  bread,  and  would  prefer  beer, 
alongside  of  a  man  who  can  live  on  rice.  It  cannot  be 
done.  In  all  such  conflicts  and  in  all  such  struggles  the 
result  is  not  to  bring  up  the  man  who  lives  on  rice  to 
the  beef-and-bread  standard,  but  it  is  to  bring  down  the 
beef-and-bread  man  to  the  rice  standard.  Slave  labor 
degraded  free  labor  ;  it  took  out  its  respectability  ;  it 
put  an  odious  caste  on  it.  It  throttled  the  prosperity  of 
a  fine  and  fair  portion  of  the  United  States  ;  and  a 
worse  than  slave  labor  will  throttle  and  impair  the  pros- 
perity of  a  still  finer  and  fairer  section  of  the  United 
States.  We  can  choose  here  to-day  whether  our  legis- 
lation shall  be  in  the  interest  of  the  American  free  la- 
borer or  for  the  servile  laborer  from  China." 

Mr.   Blaine's  powerful  speech    has  not  been    given 


124  JAMES   G.  BLAINE. 

entire,  but  enough  is  reproduced  to  exhibit  the  tenor 
of  his  argument. 

The  bill  whose  passage  he  urged  secured  the  ap- 
proval of  both  Houses  of  Congress  but  was  vetoed  by 
President  Hayes,  it  being  to  his  sense  a  violation  of 
treaty  obligations.  The  effort  against  the  Chinese  was 
renewed  at  the  session  of  1881-2,  and  the  bill  this  time 
introduced  was  much  more  rigorous  in  its  provisions, 
absolutely  prohibiting  all  immigration  of  Chinese  and 
coolie  laborers  for  twenty  years.  The  author  of  the 
bill.  Senator  John  F.  Miller,  made  a  strong  speech  in 
favor  of  it  and  it  passed  both  houses.  Mr.  Blaine  was 
not  then  in  the  Senate. 


XIV. 

SLANDER. 

These  pages  need  not  be  burdened  with  a  defence  of 
Mr.  Blaine  against  the  accusations  of  political  enemies. 
They  were  disposed  of  long  ago,  and  if  a  renewal  of  the 
complete  answers  which  have  been  made  to  them  should 
be  desired  it  will  doubtless  be  readily  furnished  from 
other  sources.  But  without  some  statement  of  the 
charges  and  Mr.  Blaine's  refutation  of  them  this  could 
not  offer  itself  as  a  full  history  of  his  life.  They  must 
therefore  be  glanced  at  briefly. 

The  story  of  them  is  set  forth  in  the  Congressional 
Record  from  Mr.  Blaine's  mouth,  and  nothing  better  can 
be  done  than  to  reproduce  it  here.  On  April  24,  1876, 
he  said  in  the  House  of  Representatives  : 

*'  Mr.  Speaker,  with  the  leave  of  the  House  so  kindly 
granted,  I  shall  proceed  to  submit  certain  facts  and  cor- 
rect certain  errors  personal  to  myself.  The  dates  of 
the  correspondence  embraced  in  my  statement  will  show 
that  it  was  impossible  for  me  to  make  it  earlier.  I  shall 
be  as  brief  as  the  circumstances  will  permit.     For  some 


126  JAMES   G.    BLAINE. 

months  past  a  charge  against  me  has  been  circulating 
in  private — and  was  recently  made  public — designing 
to  show  that  I  had  in  some  indirect  manner  received  the 
large  sum  of  $64,000  from  the  Union  Pacific  Railroad 
Company  in  187 1 — for  what  services  or  for  what  purpose 
has  never  been  stated.  The  alleged  proofs  of  the  seri- 
ous accusation  was  based,  according  to  the  original 
story,  upon  the  authorship  of  E.  H.  Rollins,  treasurer 
of  the  Union  Pacific  company,  who,  it  was  averred,  had 
full  knowledge  that  I  got  the  money,  and  also  upon  the 
authority  of  Morton,  Bliss  &  Company,  bankers  of  New 
York,  through  whom  the  draft  for  $64,000  was  said  to 
have  been  negotiated  for  my  benefit,  as  they  confidently 
knew.  Hearing  of  this  charge  some  weeks  in  advance 
of  its  publication,  I  procured  the  following  statement 
from  the  two  principal  witnesses,  who  were  quoted  as 
having  such  definite  knowledge  against  me  : 

"  '  Union  Pacific  Railroad  Company, 

"  '  Boston,  March  31,  1876. 
*'  'Dear  Sir  :  In  response  to  your  inquiry,  I  beg  leave 
to  state  that  I  have  been  treasurer  of  the  Union  Pacific 
Railroad  Company  since  April  8,  187 1,  and  have  neces- 
sarily known  of  all  disbursements  made  since  that  date. 
During  the  entire  period  up  to  the  present  time  I  am 
sure  that  no  money  has  been  paid  in  any  way  or  to  any 
person  by  the  company  in  which  you  were  interested  in 
any  manner  whatever.  I  make  the  statement  in  justice 
to  the  company,  to  you,  and  to  myself. 
"  'Very  respectfully  yours, 

"  '  E.  H.  Rollins. 
"  *  Hon.  James  G.  Blaine.' 


SLANDER.  127 

'' '  New  York,  April  6,  1876. 

**  *  Dear  Sir  :  In  answer  to  your  inquiry  we  beg  to  say 
that  no  draft,  note,  or  check,  or  other  evidence  of  value 
has  passed  through  our  books  in  which  you  were  known 
or  supposed  to  have  any  interest  of  any  kind,  direct  or 
indirect. 

***VVe  remain,  very  respectfully,  your  obedient  ser- 
vants, Morton,  Bliss  &  Co. 

"  '  Hon.  James  G.  Blaine, 

'' '  Washington,  D.  C 

''  Some  persons  on  reading  the  letter  of  Morton,  Bliss 
&  Co.  said  that  its  denial  seemed  to  be  confined  to  any 
payment  that  had  passed  through  their  books,  whereas 
they  might  have  paid  a  draft  in  which  I  was  interested 
and  yet  no  entry  made  of  it  on  their  books.  On  the 
criticism  being  made  known  to  the  firm,  they  at  once 
addressed  me  the  following  letter  : 

*'  '  New  York,  April  13,  1876. 

"  '  Dear  Sir  :  It  has  been  suggested  to  us  that  our 
letter  of  the  6th  instant  was  not  sufficiently  inclusive  or 
exclusive.  In  that  letter  we  stated  '*  that  no  draft,  note^ 
or  check,  or  other  evidence  of  value  has  ever  passed 
through  our  books  in  which  you  were  known  or  sup- 
posed to  have  any  interest,  direct  or  indirect."  It  may 
be  proper  for  us  to  add  that  nothing  has  been  paid  to 
us  in  any  form  or  at  any  time,  to  any  person  or  any  cor- 
poration in  which  you  were  known,  believed,  or  supposed 
to  have  any  interest  whatever. 

"'We  remain,  very  respectfully,  your  obedient  ser- 
vants, Morton,  Bliss  &  Co. 

"  *  Hon.  James  G.  Blaine, 
"'Washington,  D.  C 


128  JAMES    G.    BLAINE. 

"  The  two  witnesses  quoted  for  the  original  charge 
having  thus  effectually  disposed  of  it,  the  charge  itself 
reappeared  in  another  form  to  this  effect,  namely  :  That 
a  certain  draft  was  negotiated  at  the  house  of  Morton, 
Bliss  &  Company,  in  187 1,  through  Thomas  A.  Scott, 
then  president  of  the  Union  Pacific  Railroad  Company, 
for  the  sum  of  $64,000,  and  that  $75,000  of  the  bonds  of 
the  Little  Rock  &  Fort  Smith  Railroad  Company  were 
pledged  as  collateral  ;  that  the  Union  Pacific  company 
paid  the  draft  and  took  up  the  collateral  ;  that  the  cash 
proceeds  of  it  went  to  me,  and  that  I  had  furnished,  or 
sold,  or  in  some  way  conveyed  or  transferred  to  Thomas 
A.  Scott,  these  Little  Rock  &  Fort  Smith  bonds  which 
had  been  used  as  collateral  ;  that  the  bonds  in  reality 
had  belonged  to  me  or  some  friend  or  constituent  of 
mine  for  whom  I  was  acting.  I  endeavor  to  state  the 
charge  in  its  boldest  form  and  in  all  its  phases. 

"  I  desire  here  and  now  to  declare  that  all  and  every 
part  of  this  story  that  connects  my  name  with  it  is  ab- 
solutely untrue,  without  a  particle  of  foundation  in  fact, 
and  without  a  tittle  of  evidence  to  substantiate  it.  I 
never  had  any  transaction  of  any  kind  with  Thomas  A. 
Scott  concerning  bonds  of  the  Little  Rock  &  Fort 
Smith  road,  or  the  bonds  of  any  other  railroad,  or  any 
business  in  any  way  connected  with  railroads,  directly 
or  indirectly,  immediately  or  remotely.  I  never  had  any 
business  transactions  whatever  with  the  Union  Paci- 
fic Railroad  Company,  or  any  of  its  officers  or  agents 
or  representatives,  and  never  in  any  manner  received 


SLANDER.  129 

from  that  company,  directly  or  indirectly,  a  single  dollar 
in  money,  or  stocks,  or  bonds,  or  any  other  form  of 
value.  And  as  to  the  particular  transaction  referred  to, 
I  never  so  much  as  heard  of  it  until  nearly  two  years 
after  its  alleged  occurrence,  when  it  was  talked  of  at  the 
time  of  the  Credit  Mobilier  investigation  in  1873.  ^^it 
while  my  denial  ought  to  be  conclusive,  I  should  greatly 
regret  to  be  compelled  to  leave  the  matter  there.  I  am 
fortunately  able  to  sustain  my  own  declaration  by  the 
most  conclusive  evidence  that  the  case  admits  of  or  that 
human  testimony  can  supply.  If  any  person  or  persons 
know  the  truth  or  falsity  of  these  charges,  it  must  be 
the  officers  of  the  Union  Pacific  Railroad  Company.  I 
accordingly  addressed  a  note  to  the  president  of  that 
company,  a  gentleman  who  has  been  a  director  of  the 
company  from  its  organization,  I  believe,  who  has  a 
more  thorough  acquaintance  with  its  business  transac- 
tions, probably,  than  any  other  man.  The  correspond- 
ence which  I  here  submit  will  explain  itself  and  leave 
nothing  to  be  said.  I  will  read  these  letters  in  their 
proper  order.     They  need  no  comment. 


"  'Washington,  D.  C,  April  13,  1876. 

** '  Dear  Sir  :  You  have  doubtless  observed  the  scandal 
now  in  circulation  in  regard  to  my  having  been  in- 
terested in  certain  bonds  of  the  Little  Rock  &  Fort 
Smith  road,  alleged  to  have  been  purchased  by  your 
company  in  187 1.  It  is  due  to  me,  I  think,  that  some 
statement  in  regard  to  the  subject  should  be  made  by 
9 


130  JAMES   G.    BLAINE. 

yourself  as  the  official  head  of  the  Union  Pacific  Rail- 
road Company. 

"  '  Very  respectfully,  J.  G.  Blaine. 

*■'■  'Sidney  Dillon,  Esq., 

'''President  Union  Pacific  Railroad  Company.' 

"  '  Office  Union  Pacific  Railroad  Company,  ) 
"  '  New  York,  April  15,  1876.      \ 

"  '  Dear  Sir  :  I  have  your  favor  of  the  13th  instant,  and 
in  reply  desire  to  say  that  I  have  this  day  written 
Colonel  Thomas  A.  Scott,  who  was  president  of  the 
Union  Pacific  company  at  the  time  of  the  transaction 
referred  to,  a  letter  of  which  I  send  a  copy  herewith. 
On  receipt  of  this  reply  I  will  enclose  it  to  you. 
"  '  Very  respectfully, 

"  '  Sidney  Dillon,  President. 
"  '  Hon.  James  G.  Blaine, 
"  '  Washington,  D.  C 


Office  of  the  Union  Pacific  Railroad  Co.,  ) 
New  York,  April  15,  1876.      ) 


u   < 


"  '  Dear  Sir  :  The  press  of  the  country  are  making  al- 
legations that  certain  bonds  of  the  Little  Rock  &  Fort 
Smith  Railroad  Company  in  187 1  were  obtained  from 
Hon.  James  G.  Blaine,  of  Maine,  or  that  the  avails  in 
some  form  w^ent  to  his  benefit,  and  that  the  knowledge 
of  those  facts  rests  w4th  the  officers  of  the  company  and 
with  yourself.  These  statements  are  injurious  both 
to  Mr.  Blaine  and  to  the  Union  Pacific  Railroad  Com- 
pany. There  were  never  any  facts  to  w^arrant  them, 
and  I  think  that  a  statement  to  the  public  is  due  both 
from  you  and  myself.  I  desire,  as  president  of  the  com- 
pany, to  repel  any  such  inference  in  the  most  emphatic 


SLANDER.  131 

manner,  and  would  be  glad  to  hear  from  you  on  the 
subject  Very  respectfully, 

"'Sidney   Dillon,    President. 
"  *  Col.  Thomas  A.  Scott,  Philadelphia,  Pa.' 

**  *  Office  Union  Pacific  Railroad  Company,  ) 
*'  *  New  York,  April  22,  1876.      \ 

"  *  Dear  Sir  :  As  I  advised  you  some  days  ago,  I  wrote 
Col.  Thomas  A.  Scott  and  begged  leave  to  enclose  you 
his  reply.  I  desire  further  to  say  that  I  was  a  director 
of  the  company  and  a  member  of  the  executive  commit- 
tee in  1871,  and  to  add  my  testimony  to  that  of  Col. 
Scott  in  verification  of  all  that  he  has  stated  in  the  en- 
closed letter.  Truly  yours, 

"  '  Sidney  Dillon,  President. 

"  *  Hon.  James  G.  Blaine, 

"  'Washington,  D.  C 

**  *  Philadelphia,  April  21,  1876. 

*'  ^  My  Dear  Sir  :  I  have  your  letter  under  date  New 
York  April  15,  1876,  stating  that  the  press  of  the  coun- 
try are  making  allegations  that  certain  bonds  of  the 
Little  Rock  &  Fort  Smith  Railroad,  purchased  by  the 
Union  Pacific  Railroad  Company  in  187 1,  were  obtained 
from  Hon.  J.  G.  Blaine,  of  Maine,  or  that  the  avails  in 
some  form  went  to  his  benefit  ;  that  there  never  were 
any  facts  to  warrant  them  ;  that  it  is  your  desire  as 
president  of  the  company  to  repel  any  such  influence 
in  the  most  emphatic  manner,  and  asking  me  to  make  a 
statement  in  regard  to  the  matter. 

"  *  In  reply,  I  beg  leave  to  say  that  much  as  I  dislike 
the  idea  of  entering  into  any  of  the  controversies  that 
are  before  the   public  in   these  days  of  scandal  from 


132  JAMES   G.    BLAINE. 

which  but  a  few  men  in  public  life  seem  to  be  exempt, 
I  feel  it  my  duty  to  state  : 

"'That  the  Little  Rock  &  Fort  Smith  bonds  pur- 
chased by  the  Union  Pacific  Railroad  Company  in  187 1, 
were  not  purchased  or  received  from  Mr.  Blaine,  di- 
rectly or  indirectly,  and  that  of  the  money  paid  by  the 
Union  Pacific  Railroad  Company,  or  of  the  avails  of 
said  bonds,  not  one  dollar  went  to  Mr.  Blaine  or  to  any 
person  for  him,  or  for  his  benefit  in  any  form. 

'' '  All  statements  to  the  effect  that  Mr.  Blaine  ever  had 
any  transactions  with  me,  directly  or  indirectly,  involv- 
ing money  or  valuables  of  any  kind,  are  absolutely 
without  foundation  in  fact. 

*'*I  take  pleasure  in  making  this  statement  to  you, 
and  you  may  use  it  in  any  manner  you  deem  best  for  the 
interest  of  the  Union  Pacific  Railroad  Company. 
«  <  Very  truly  yours, 

"  *  Thomas  A.  Scott. 
**  *  Sidney  Dillon,  Esq.,  President, 

"  *  Union  Pacific  Railroad  Company,  New  York.' 


"  Let  me  now,  Mr.  Speaker,  briefly  summarize  what  I 
presented  :  First,  that  the  story  of  my  receiving  $64,000 
or  any  other  sum  of  money,  or  anything  of  value,  from 
the  Union  Pacific  Railroad  Company,  directly  or  indi- 
rectly, or  in  any  form,  is  absolutely  disproved  by 
the  most  conclusive  testimony.  Second,  that  no  bond 
of  mine  was  ever  sold  to  the  Atlantic  &  Pacific,  or 
the  Missouri,  Kansas  &  Texas  Railroad  Company,  and 
that  not  a  single  dollar  of  money  from  either  of  these 
companies  ever  went  to   my  profit  or  benefit.     Third, 


SLANDER.  133 

that  instead  of  receiving  bonds  of  the  Little  Rock  & 
Fort  Smith  road  as  a  gratuity,  I  never  had  one  except 
at  the  regular  market  price  ;  and  instead  of  making  a 
large  fortune  oif  that  company,  I  have  incurred  a  severe 
pecuniary  loss  from  my  investment  in  its  securities, 
which  I  still  retain  ;  and  out  of  such  affairs  as  these 
grows  the  popular  gossip  of  large  fortunes  amassed  in 
Congress.  I  can  hardly  expect,  Mr.  Speaker,  that  any 
statement  from  me  will  stop  the  work  of  those  who 
have  so  industriously  circulated  these  calumnies.  For 
months  past  the  effort  has  been  energetic  and  contin- 
uous to  spread  these  stories  in  private  circles.  Emis- 
saries of  slander  have  visited  editorial  rooms  of  leading 
Republican  papers  from  Boston  to  Omaha,  and  whis- 
pered of  revelations  to  come  that  were  too  terrible  even 
to  be  spoken  in  loud  tones,  and  at  last,  the  revelations 
have  been  made.  I  am  now,  Mr.  Speaker,  in  the  four- 
teenth year  of  a  not  inactive  service  in  this  hall ;  I 
have  taken  and  have  given  blows  ;  I  have  no  doubt  said 
many  things  in  the  heat  of  debate  that  I  would  gladly 
recall ;  I  have  no  doubt  given  votes  which  in  fuller  light 
I  would  gladly  change  ;  but  I  have  never  done  anything 
in  my  public  career  for  which  I  could  be  put  to  the 
faintest  blush  in  any  presence,  or  for  which  I  cannot 
answer  to  my  constituents,  my  conscience,  and  the  Great 
Searcher  of  Hearts." 

Comment  upon  this  need  not  be  made  ;  but  it  is  worth 
while  to  add,  as  an  indication  of  public  sentiment  at  the 
time,  this  fair  and  ample  statement  from  Mr.  George 


134  JAMES   G.    BLAINE. 

William  Curtis.     It  appeared  in  Harper's  Weekly^  May  13, 
1876.     Mr.  Curtis  wrote  : 

''  In  speaking  of  the  railroad-bond  scandal  about  Mr. 
Blaine  we  said  that  at  least  it  would  be  admitted  that  he 
had  always  shown  himself  acute  enough  to  escape  the 
traps  into  which  the  honest  but  dull  will  often  fall.  If 
high  principle  should  be  denied  to  him,  and  if,  as  is 
sometimes  asserted,  he  is  merely  a  politician,  yet  surely 
he  is  a  politician  of  sagacity  enough  to  know  that,  in 
public  life,  honesty,  if  nothing  more,  is  certainly  good 
policy.  The  substance  of  the  charge  against  Mr.  Blaine 
\vas  that  when  he  was  Speaker  of  the  House,  and  when 
Mr.  Thomas  Scott  was  president  of  the  Union  Pacific 
Railroad  Company,  he  caused  the  company  to  buy  bonds 
to  the  amount  of  $75,000,  which  were  almost  worthless, 
for  $64, 000,  and  the  insinuation  was  that  this  was  a  bribe 
to  secure  the  favor  of  Mr.  Blaine  for  Mr.  Scott's  railway 
projects  before  Congress.  Plainly  stated,  this  was  the 
charge.  Of  course,  if  believed  it  w^as  fatal  to  Mr.  Blaine  ; 
and  at  this  time,  when  the  public  mind  is  very  suspi- 
cious, the  mere  accusation  was  not  unlikely  to  be  of 
great  injury  to  him.  The  story  had  been  privately 
whispered,  and  there  had  been  a  conference  of  Republi- 
can editors  at  Cincinnati,  which  ended  by  acquainting 
him  of  the  rumor.  Suddenly  it  was  made  public  in  a 
Democratic  paper  at  Indianapolis,  and  in  other  journals 
in  other  parts  of  the  country.  Then,  of  course,  it  was 
echoed  and  re-echoed  through  the  whole  press.  Mr. 
Blaine  instantly  published  an  absolute  and  complete 


SLANDER.  135 

denial,  and  having  collected  evidence  that  is  apparently 
conclusive,  he  made  a  brief,  clear,  simple  statement  in 
the  House,  which  was  as  thorough  a  refutation  as  was 
ever  made,  and,  in  the  absence  of  other  evidence,  leaves 
him  unspotted. 

"He  showed  by  the  testimony  of  the  officers  and  bank- 
ers who  had  been  cited  as  agents  that  he  had  never  re- 
ceived from  them,  directly  or  indirectly,  any  money,  as 
charged.  Mr.  Scott,  in  the  most  explicit  manner,  de- 
clared that  Mr.  Blaine  had  never  had  any  transaction 
whatever  with  him,  directly  or  indirectly,  involving 
money  or  valuables  of  any  kind.  The  treasurer  of  the 
road,  Mr.  E.  H.  Rollins,  was  equally  precise  and  unquali- 
fied in  his  declaration,  and  Messrs.  Morton,  Bliss  &  Co., 
who  were  said  to  have  been  paid  the  money,  said  :  '  Noth- 
ing has  been  paid  by  us,  in  any  form  or  at  any  time,  to 
any  person  or  any  corporation  in  which  you  were  known, 
believed,  or  supposed  to  have  any  interest  whatever.' 
Mr.  Blaine  states  that  he  bought  in  1869  some  bonds  of 
the  Little  Rock  &  Fort  Smith  Railroad,  which  derives 
its  franchise  and  rights  entirely  from  the  State  of  Ar- 
kansas. He  paid  for  his  bonds  the  price  that  all  buyers 
paid,  and,  with  other  buyers,  he  lost  by  them.  His  loss 
was  more  than  $20,000.  All  the  bonds  that  he  ever 
bought  he  held  until  the  company  was  reorganized  in 
1874,  when  he  exchanged  them  for  stocks  and  bonds  in 
the  new  concern,  which  he  still  holds.  When  the  At- 
lantic &  Pacific,  and  Missouri,  Kansas  &  Texas  roads 
bought  some  of  the  securities  of  the  Little  Rock  road, 


136  JAMES   G.    BLAINE. 

Mr.  Blaine  knew  of  the  negotiation,  but  none  of  the 
bonds  sold  to  those  roads  belonged  to  him,  nor  did  he 
have  a  single  dollar's  pecuniary  interest  in  the  transac- 
tion. 

"  This  is  the  statement  of  Mr.  Blaine,  supported  by  un- 
questionable testimony.  He  has  not  sought  investiga- 
tion because  he  knew  by  experience  how  long  he  would 
have  to  wait  for  a  report ;  and  while  awaiting  the  slow 
action  of  a  committee,  with  the  charges  still  pending, 
he  could  not  have  published  the  evidence  which  he  has 
now  submitted.  He  knew,  moreover,  although  he  does 
not  say,  and  everybody  knows,  that  the  Democratic  in- 
vestigating committee  would  have  delayed  any  report 
until  after  the  Cincinnati  convention,  as  a  fatal  blow  to 
Mr.  Blaine's  possible  candidacy.  But  if  the  House  now 
wishes  to  open  an  inquiry  he  will  gladly  give  all  the  as- 
sistance he  can  to  make  it  rigorous  and  thorough.  In 
justice  to  Mr.  Blaine  we  present  the  concluding  sum- 
mary of  his  speech  : 

[The  summary  quoted  above  was  here  inserted] 

*'  If  nobody  now  appears  to  justify  this  accusation,  it 
must  be  considered  merely  one  of  the  reckless  slanders 
to  which  every  prominent  public  man  is  exposed,  and 
no  charge  that  may  be  hereafter  made  against  Mr.  Blaine, 
unaccompanied  by  weighty  testimony,  will  deserve  any 
attention  whatever." 

The  story  of  the  events  which  intervened  between 
the  date  of  this  clear  and  convincing  statement  and 
June  5th,  when  he  made  a  personal  explanation  in  the 


SLANDER.  137 

House,  is  told  by  Mr.  Blaine  in  the  course  of  that  ex- 
planation, and  here,  as  elsewhere,  it  is  preferred  to  allow 
him  to  speak  for  himself  : 

Mr.  Blaine.  '*  If  the  morning  hour  has  expired,  I  will 
rise  to  a  question  of  privilege." 

The  Speaker  pro  tempore.  ''The  morning  hour  has 
expired." 

Mr.  Blaine.  "  Mr.  Speaker,  on  the  second  day  of  May 
this  resolution  was  passed  by  the  House  : 

"  *  Whereas^  it  is  publicly  alleged,  and  is  not  denied  by 
the  officers  of  the  Union  Pacific  Railroad  Company, 
that  that  corporation  did,  in  the  year  187 1  or  1872,  be- 
come the  owner  of  certain  bonds  of  the  Little  Rock  & 
Fort  Smith  Railroad  Company,  for  which  bonds  the 
said  Union  Pacific  Railroad  Company  paid  a  considera- 
tion largely  in  excess  of  their  market  or  actual  value, 
and  that  the  board  of  directors  of  said  Union  Pacific 
Railroad  Company,  though  urged,  have  neglected  to 
investigate  said  transaction  ;  therefore, 

"  ''Be  it  resolved^  That  the  Committee  on  the  Judiciary 
be  instructed  to  inquire  if  any  such  transaction  took 
place,  and,  if  so,  what  were  the  circumstances  or  induce- 
ments thereto,  from  what  person  or  persons  said  bonds 
were  obtained  and  upon  what  consideration,  and 
whether  the  transaction  was  from  corrupt  design  or  in 
furtherance  of  any  corrupt  object  ;  and  that  the  com- 
mittee have  power  to  send  for  persons  and  papers.' 

"  That  resolution  on  its  face  and  in  its  fair  intent  was 
obviously  designed  to  find  out  whether  any  improper 


138  JAMES  G.   BLAINE. 

thing  had  been  done  by  the  Union  Pacific  Railroad 
Company  ;  and  of  course,  incidentally  thereto,  to  find 
out  with  whom  the  transaction  was  made. 

"No  sooner  was  the  sub-committee  designated  than  it 
became  entirely  obvious  that  the  resolution  was  solely 
and  only  aimed  at  me.  I  think  there  had  not  been 
three  questions  asked  until  it  was  evident  that  the  in- 
vestigation was  to  be  a  personal  one  upon  me,  and  that 
the  Union  Pacific  Railroad,  or  any  other  incident  of  the 
transaction,  was  secondary,  insignificant,  and  unimpor- 
tant. J  do  not  complain  of  that  ;  I  do  not  say  that  I  had 
any  reason  to  complain  of  it.  If  the  investigation  was 
to  be  made  in  that  personal  sense,  I  was  ready  to 
meet  it. 

"  The  gentleman  on  whose  statement  the  accusation 
rested  was  first  called.  He  stated  what  he  knew  from 
rumor.  Then  there  were  called  Mr.  Rollins,  Mr.  Mor- 
ton, and  Mr.  Millard,  from  Omaha,  a  Government  di- 
rector of  the  Union  Pacific  road,  and  finally  Thomas  A. 
Scott.  The  testimony  was  completely  and  conclusively 
in  disproof  of  the  charge  that  there  was  any  possibility 
that  I  could  have  had  anything  to  do  with  the  transac- 
tion. When  the  famous  witness  Mulligan  came  here 
loaded  with  information  in  regard  to  the  Fort  Smith 
road,  the  gentleman  from  Virginia  drew  out  what  he 
knew  had  no  reference  whatever  to  the  question  of  in- 
vestigation. He  then  and  there  insisted  on  all  of  my 
private  memoranda  being  allowed  to  be  exhibited  by 
that  man   in  reference  to  business   that  had   no   more 


SLANDER.  139 

connection,  no  more  relation,  no  more  to  do  with  that 
investigation  than  with  the  North  Pole. 

"And  the  gentleman  tried  his  best,  also,  though  I  be- 
lieve that  has  been  abandoned,  to  capture  and  use  and 
control  my  private  correspondence.  This  man  has  se- 
lected, out  of  correspondence  running  over  a  great 
many  years,  letters  which  he  thought  would  be  pecu- 
liarly damaging  to  me.  He  came  here  loaded  with 
them.  He  came  here  for  a  sensation.  He  came  here 
primed.  He  came  here  on  that  particular  errand.  I 
was  advised  of  it,  and  I  obtained  those  letters  under  cir- 
cumstances which  have  been  notoriously  scattered  over 
the  United  States,  and  are  known  to  everybody.  I  have 
them.  I  claim  that  I  have  the  entire  right  to  those 
letters,  not  only  by  natural  right,  but  by  all  the  princi- 
ples and  precedents  of  law,  as  the  man  who  held  those 
letters  in  possession  held  them  wrongfully.  The  com- 
mittee that  attempted  to  take  those  letters  from  that 
man  for  use  against  me  proceeded  wrongfully.  It 
proceeded  in  all  boldness  to  a  most  defiant  violation  of 
the  ordinary  private  and  personal  rights  which  belong 
to  every  American  citizen.  I  wanted  the  gentleman 
from  Kentucky  and  the  gentleman  from  Virginia  to 
introduce  that  question  upon  this  floor,  but  they  did 
not  do  it. 

"  I  stood  up  and  declined,  not  only  on  the  conclu- 
sions of  my  own  mind,  but  by  eminent  legal  advice.  I 
was  standing  behind  the  rights  which  belong  to  every 
American  citizen,  and  if  they  wanted  to  treat  the  ques- 


140  JAMES    G.    BLAINE. 

tion  in  my  person  anywhere  in  the  legislative  halls  or 
judicial  halls,  I  was  ready.  Then  there  went  forth 
everywhere  the  idea  and  impression  that  because  I 
would  not  permit  that  man,  or  any  man  whom  I  could 
prevent  from  holding  as  a  menace  over  my  head  my 
private  correspondence,  there  must  be  in  it  something 
deadly  and  destructive  to  my  reputation.  I  would  like 
any  gentleman  to  stand  up  here  and  tell  me  that  he  is 
willing  and  ready  to  have  his  private  correspondence 
scanned  over  and  made  public  for  the  last  eight  or  ten 
years.  I  would  like  any  gentleman  to  say  that.  Does  it 
imply  guilt  ?  Does  it  imply  wrong-doing  ?  Does  it 
imply  any  sense  of  weakness  that  a  man  will  protect  his 
private  correspondence  ?  No,  sir  ;  it  is  the  first  instinct 
to  do  it,  and  it  is  the  last  outrage  upon  any  man  to 
violate  it. 

*'  Now,  Mr.  Speaker,  I  say  that  I  have  defied  the  power 
of  the  House  to  compel  me  to  produce  these  letters. 
I  speak  with  all  respect  to  this  House.  I  know  its 
powers,  and  I  trust  I  respect  them.  But  I  say  that  this 
House  has  no  more  power  to  order  what  shall  be  done 
or  not  done  with  my  private  correspondence,  than  it 
has  with  what  I  shall  do  in  the  nurture  and  education 
of  my  children,  not  a  particle.  The  right  is  as  sacred 
in  the  one  case  as  it  is  in  the  other.  But,  sir,  having 
vindicated  that  right,  standing  by  it,  ready  to  make  any 
sacrifice  in  the  defence  of  it,  here  and  now  if  any  gen- 
tleman wants  to  take  issue  with  me  on  behalf  of  this 
House  I  am  ready  for  any  extremity  of  contest  or  con- 


SLANDER,  141 

flict  in  behalf  of  so  sacred  a  right.  And  while  I  am  so, 
I  am  not  afraid  to  show  the  letters.  Thank  God  al- 
mighty, I  am  not  ashamed  to  show  them.  There  they 
are  (holding  up  a  package  of  letters).  There  is  the 
very  original  package.  And  with  some  sense  of  humili- 
ation, with  a  mortification  I  do  not  attempt  to  conceal, 
with  a  sense  of  the  outrage  which  I  think  any  man  in 
my  position  would  feel,  I  invite  the  confidence  of  forty- 
four  millions  of  my  countrymen,  while  I  read  those  let> 
ters  from  this  desk.     [Applause.] 

**  The  next  letter  to  which  I  refer  was  dated  Wash- 
ington, District  of  Columbia,  April  18,  1872.  This  is 
the  letter  in  which  Mulligan  says  and  puts  down  in  his 
abstract  that  I  admitted  the  sixty-four  thousand  dollar 
sale  of  bonds  : 

*'  'Washington,  D.  C,  April  18,  1872. 

"  *  My  Dear  Mr.  Fisher  :  I  answered  you  very  hastily 
last  evening,  as  you  said  you  wished  for  an  immediate 
reply,  and  perhaps  in  my  hurry  I  did  not  make  myself 
fully  understood.  You  have  been  for  some  time  labor- 
ing under  a  totally  erroneous  impression  in  regard  to 
my  results  in  the  Fort  Smith  matter.  The  sales  of 
bonds  which  you  spoke  of  my  making,  and  which  you 
seem  to  have  thought  were  for  my  own  benefit,  were 
entirely  otherwise.  I  did  not  have  the  money  in  my 
possession  forty-eight  hours,  but  paid  it  over  directly  to 
the  parties  whom  I  tried  by  every  means  in  my  power 
to  protect  from  loss.  I  am  very  sure  that  you  have 
little  idea  of  the  labors,  the  losses,  the  efforts  and  the 


142  JAMES  G.   BLAl.VE. 

sacrifices  I  have  made  within  the  past  year  to  save  those 
innocent  persons,  who  invested  on  my  request,  from 
personal  loss. 

'' '  And  I  say  to  you  to-night  that  I  am  immeasurably 
worse  off  than  if  I  had  never  touched  the  Fort  Smith 
matter.  The  demand  you  make  upon  me  now  is  one 
which  I  am  entirely  unable  to  comply  with.  I  canjiot 
do  it.  It  is  not  iti  my  power.  You  say  that  "  necessity 
knows  no  law."  That  applies  to  me  as  well  as  to  you, 
and  when  I  have  reached  the  point  I  am  now  at  I 
simply  fall  back  on  that  law.  You  are  as  well  aware  as 
I  am  that  the  bonds  are  due  me  under  the  contract. 
Could  I  have  them  I  could  adjust  many  matters  not 
now  in  my  power,  and  as  long  as  this  and  other  matters 
remain  unadjusted  between  us  I  do  not  recognize  the 
equity  or  the  lawfulness  of  your  calling  on  me  for  a 
partial  settlement.  I  am  ready  at  any  moment  to  make 
a  full,  fair,  comprehensive  settlement  with  you  on  the 
most  liberal  terms.  I  will  not  be  exacting  or  captious 
or  critical,  but  am  ready  and  eager  to  make  a  broad 
and  generous  adjustment  with  you,  and  if  we  can't 
agree  ourselves,  we  can  select  a  mutual  friend  who  can 
easily  compromise  all  points  of  difference  between  us. 

"  '  You  will,  I  trust,  see  that  I  am  disposed  to  meet  you 
in  a  spirit  of  friendly  cordiality,  and  yet  with  a  sense  of 
self-defence  that  impels  me  to  be  frank  and  expose  to 
you  my  pecuniary  weakness. 

"  *  With  very  kind  regards  to  Mrs.  Fisher,  I  am  yours 
truly, 

''  *  J.  G.  Blaine. 
"'W.  Fisher,  Jr.,  Esq.' 

*'  I  now  pass  to  a  letter  dated  Augusta,  Me.,  October 
4,  1869,  but  I  read  these  letters  now  somewhat  in  their 


SLANDER.  143 

order.  Now  to  this  letter  I  ask  the  attention  of  the 
House.  In  the  March  session  of  1869,  the  first  one 
at  which  I  was  speaker,  the  extra  session  of  the  Forty- 
first  Congress,  a  land  grant  in  the  State  of  Arkansas  to 
the  Little  Rock  road  was  reported.  I  never  remember 
to  have  heard  of  the  road,  until  at  the  last  night  of  the 
session,  when  it  was  up  here  for  consideration.  The 
gentlemen  in  Boston  with  whom  I  had  relations  did  not 
have  anything  to  do  with  that  road  for  nearly  three  or 
four  months  after  that  time.  It  is  in  the  light  of  that 
statement  that  I  desire  that  letter  read. 

"  In  the  autumn,  six  or  eight  months  afterward,  I  was 
looking  over  the  Globe,  probably  with  some  curiosity,  if 
not  pride,  to  see  the  decisions  I  had  made  the  first  five 
weeks  I  was  Speaker.  I  had  not  until  then  recalled  this 
decision  of  mine,  and  when  I  came  across  it,  all  the 
facts  came  back  to  me  fresh,  and  I  wrote  this  letter : 

(Personal.) 

'"Augusta,  Me.,  October  4,  1869. 

*"  My  Dear  Sir:  I  spoke  to  you  a  short  time  ago 
about  a  point  of  interest  to  your  railroad  company  that 
occurred  at  the  last  session  of  the  Congress. 

"  '  It  was  on  the  last  night  of  the  session,  when  the  bill 
renewing  the  land  grant  to  the  State  of  Arkansas  for 
the  Little  Rock  road  was  reached,  and  Julian,  of  Indi- 
ana, Chairman  of  the  Public  Lands  Committee,  and,  by 
right,  entitled  to  the  floor,  attempted  to  put  on  the  bill 
as  an  amendment,  the  Fremont  El  Paso  scheme — a 
scheme  probably  well  known  to  Mr.  Caldwell.  The 
House  was  thin,  and  the  lobby  in  the  Fremont  interest 


144  JAMES   G.    BLAINE. 

had  the  thing  all  set  up,  and  Julian's  amendment  was 
likely  to  prevail  if  brought  to  a  vote.  Roots,  and  the 
other  members  from  Arkansas,  who  were  doing  their 
best  for  their  own  bill  (to  which  there  seemed  to  be  no 
objection),  were  in  despair,  for  it  was  well  known  that 
the  Senate  was  hostile  to  the  Fremont  scheme,  and  if 
the  Arkansas  bill  had  gone  back  to  the  Senate  with 
Julian's  amendments,  the  whole  thing  could  have  gone 
on  the  table  and  slept  the  sleep  of  death. 

*' '  In  this  dilemma  Roots  came  to  me  to  know  what 
on  earth  he  could  do  under  the  rules  ;  for  he  said  it  was 
vital  to  his  constituents  that  the  bill  should  pass.  I  told 
him  that  Julian's  amendment  was  entirely  out  of  order, 
because  not  germane  ;  but  he  had  not  sufficient  con- 
fidence in  his  own  knowledge  of  the  rules  to  make  the 
point,  but  he  said  General  Logan  was  opposed  to  the 
Fremont  scheme  and  would  probably  make  the  point. 
I  sent  my  page  to  General  Logan  with  the  suggestion, 
and  he  at  once  made  the  point.  I  could  not  do  other- 
wise than  sustain  it,  and  so  the  bill  was  freed  from  the 
mischievous  amendment  moved  by  Julian,  and  at  once 
passed  without  objection. 

** '  At  that  time  I  had  never  seen  Mr.  Caldwell,  but 
you  can  tell  him  that  without  knowing  it  I  did  him  a 
great  favor.  Sincerely  yours, 

''  '  J.  G.  Blaine. 
♦"W.  Fisher,  Jr.,  Esq., 

"  '24  India  Street,  Boston.' 

"The  amendment  referred  to  in  that  letter  will  be 
found  in  the  Congressional  Globe  of  the  First  Session  of 
the  Forty-first  Congress,  page  702.  That  was  before  the 
Boston  persons  had  ever  touched  the  road. 


SLANDER.  145 

"There  is  mentioned  in  another  letter  $6,000  of  land- 
grant  bonds  of  the  Union  Pacific  Railroad  for  which  I 
stood  as  only  part  owner  ;  these  were  only  in  part  mine. 
As  I  have  started  to  make  a  personal  explanation,  I 
want  to  make  a  full  explanation  in  regard  to  this  matter. 
Those  bonds  were  not  mine  except  in  this  sense  :  In 
1869,  a  lady  who  is  a  member  of  my  family  and  whose 
financial  affairs  I  have  looked  after  for  many  years — 
many  gentlemen  will  know  to  whom  I  refer  without  my 
being  more  explicit — bought  on  the  recommendation  of 
Mr.  Hooper  $6,000  in  land-grant  bonds  of  the  Union 
Pacific  Railroad  as  they  were  issued  in  1869.  She  got 
them  on  what  was  called  the  stockholder's  basis  ;  I  think 
it  was  a  very  favorable  basis  on  which  they  distributed 
these  bonds.  These  $6,000  of  land-grant  bonds  were 
obtained  in  that  way. 

*'  In  187 1  the  Union  Pacific  Railroad  Company  broke 
down,  and  these  bonds  fell  so  that  they  were  worth  about 
forty  cents  on  the  dollar.  She  was  anxious  to  make 
herself  safe,  and  I  had  so  much  confidence  in  the  Fort 
Smith  land  bonds  that  I  proposed  to  her  to  make  an  ex- 
change. The  six  bonds  were  in  my  possession,  and  I 
had  previously  advanced  money  to  her  for  certain  pur- 
poses and  held  a  part  of  these  bonds  as  security  for  that 
advance.  The  bonds  in  that  sense,  and  in  that  sense 
only,  were  mine — that  they  were  security  for  the  loan 
which  I  had  made.  They  were  all  literally  hers  ;  they 
were  all  sold  finally  for  her  account — not  one  of  them  for 
me.     I  make  this  statement  in  order  to  be  perfectly  fair. 


146  JAMES  G.  BLA/A^E. 

"I  have  now  read  these  fifteen  letters,  the  whole  of 
them,  the  House  and  the  country  now  know  all  there  is 
in  them.  They  are  dated  and  they  correspond  precisely 
with  Mulligan's  memorandum  which  I  have  here. 

"  I  do  not  wish  to  detain  the  House,  but  I  have  one  or 
two  more  observations  to  make.  The  specific  charge 
that  went  to  the  committee  as  it  affects  me  is  whether  I 
was  a  party  in  interest  to  the  $64,000  transaction  ;  and 
I  submit  that  up  to  this  time  there  has  not  been  one 
particle  of  proof  before  the  committee  sustaining  that 
charge.  Gentlemen  have  said  that  they  heard  some- 
body else  say,  and  generally,  when  that  somebody  else 
was  brought  on  the  stand,  it  appeared  that  he  did  not 
say  it  at  all.  Colonel  Thomas  A.  Scott  swore  very  posi- 
tively and  distinctly,  under  the  most  rigid  cross-exam- 
ination, all  about  it.  Let  me  call  attention  to  that  letter 
of  mine  which  Mulligan  says  refers  to  that.  I  ask  your 
attention,  gentlemen,  as  closely  as  if  you  were  a  jury, 
while  I  show  the  absurdity  of  that  statement.  It  is  in 
evidence  that,  with  the  exception  of  a  small  fraction,  the 
bonds  which  were  sold  to  parties  in  Maine  were  first 
mortgage  bonds.  It  is  in  evidence  over  and  over  again 
that  the  bonds  which  went  to  the  Union  Pacific  road 
were  land-grant  bonds.  Therefore  it  is  a  moral  impos- 
sibility that  the  bonds  taken  up  to  Maine  should  have 
gone  to  the  Union  Pacific  Railroad.  They  were  of  dif- 
ferent series,  different  kinds,  different  colors,  everything 
different,  as  different  as  if  not  issued  within  a  thousand 


SLANDER.  147 

miles  of  each  other.  So  on  its  face  it  is  shown  that  it 
could  not  be  so. 

*'  There  has  not  been,  I  say,  one  positive  piece  of  tes- 
timony in  any  direction.  They  sent  to  Arkansas  to  get 
some  hearsay  about  bonds.  They  sent  to  Boston  to  get 
some  hearsay.  Mulligan  was  contradicted  by  Fisher, 
and  Atkins  and  Scott  swore  directly  against  him.  Mor- 
ton, of  Morton,  Bliss  &  Co.,  never  heard  my  name  in  the 
matter.  Carnegee,  who  negotiated  the  note,  never 
heard  my  name  in  that  connection.  Rollins  said  it  was 
one  of  the  intangible  rumors  he  spoke  of  as  floating  in 
the  air.  Gentlemen  who  have  lived  any  time  in  Wash- 
ington need  not  be  told  that  intangible  rumors  get  very 
considerable  circulation  here;  and  if  a  man  is  to  be  held 
accountable  before  the  bar  of  public  opinion  for  intan- 
gible rumors,  who  in  the  House  will  stand  ? 

"  Now,  gentlemen,  those  letters  I  have  read  were  pick- 
ed out  of  correspondence  extending  over  fifteen  years. 
The  man  did  his  worst,  the  very  worst  he  could,  out  of 
the  most  intimate  business  correspondence  of  my  life. 
I  ask,  gentlemen,  if  any  of  you,  and  I  ask  it  with  some 
feeling,  can  stand  a  severer  scrutiny  of,  or  more  rigid 
investigation  into,  your  private  correspondence  ?  That 
was  the  worst  he  could  do. 

"  There  is  one  piece  of  testimony  wanting.  There  is 
but  one  thing  to  close  the  complete  circle  of  evidence. 
There  is  but  one  witness  whom  I  could  not  have,  to 
whom  the  Judiciary  Committee,  taking  into  account  the 
great  and  intimate  connection  he  had  with  the  transac- 


148  JAMES  G.   BLA/N-E. 

tion,  was  asked  to  send  a  cable  despatch,  and  I  ask  the 
gentleman  from  Kentucky  if  that  cable  despatch  was 
sent  to  him  ? 

Mr.  Frye.  Who  ? 

Mr.  Blaine.  To  Josiah  Caldwell. 

Mr.  Knott.  I  will  reply  to  the  gentleman  that  Judge 
Hamton  and  myself  have  both  endeavored  to  get  Mr, 
Caldwell's  address,  and  have  not  yet  got  it. 

Mr.  Blaine.  Has  the  gentleman  from  Kentucky  re- 
ceived a  despatch  from  Mr.  Caldw^ell  ? 

Mr.  Knott.   I  will  explain  that  directly. 

Mr.  Blaine.  I  want  a  categorical  answer. 

Mr.  Knott.  I  have  received  a  despatch  purporting  to 
be  from  Mr.  Caldwell. 

Mr.  Blaine.  You  did  ? 

Mr.  Knott.   How  did  you  know  I  got  it  ? 

Mr.  Blaine.  When  did  you  get  it  ?  I  want  the  gentle- 
man from  Kentucky  to  answer  when  he  got  it. 

Mr.  Knott.  Answer  my  question  first. 

Mr.  Blaine.   I  never  heard  of  it  until  yesterday. 

Mr.  Knott.  How  did  you  hear  it  ? 

Mr.  Blaine.  I  heard  that  you  got  a  despatch  last 
Thursday  morning,  at  eight  o'clock,  from  Josiah  Cald- 
well, completely  and  absolutely  exonerating  me  from 
this  charge,  and  you  have  suppressed  it.  [Protracted 
applause  upon  the  floor  and  in  the  galleries.]  I  want 
the  gentleman  to  answer.  [After  a  pause.]  Does  the 
gentleman  from  Kentucky  decline  to  answer  ? 

"  The  gentleman  from  Kentucky  in  responding  proba- 


SLANDER.  149 

bly,  I  think,  from  what  he  said,  intended  to  convey  the 
idea  that  I  had  some  illegitimate  knowledge  of  how 
that  despatch  was  obtained.  I  have  had  no  communi- 
cation with  Josiah  Caldwell.  I  have  had  no  means  of 
knowing  from  the  telegraph  office  whether  the  despatch 
was  received.  But  I  tell  the  gentleman  from  Kentucky 
that  murder  will  out,  and  secrets  will  leak.  And  I  tell 
the  gentleman  now,  and  I  am  prepared  to  state  to  this 
House,  that  at  eight  o'clock  on  last  Thursday  morning, 
or  thereabouts,  the  gentleman  from  Kentucky  received 
and  receipted  for  a  message  addressed  to  him  from 
Josiah  Caldwell,  in  London,  entirely  corroborating  and 
substantiating  the  statements  of  Thomas  A.  Scott  which 
he  had  just  read  in  the  New  York  papers,  and  entirely 
exculpating  me  from  the  charge  which  I  am  bound  to 
believe,  from  the  suppression  of  that  report,  that  the 
gentleman  is  anxious  to  fasten  upon  me."  (Protracted 
applause  from  the  floor  and  galleries.) 

The  reporter's  interpolations  give  little  idea  of  the 
enthusiasm  with  which  this  manly  and  straightforward 
statement  was  received,  and  the  sensation  of  sympathy 
and  approval  which  ran  through  the  House  when  Mr. 
Blaine,  at  the  close,  advanced  to  the  space  in  front  of 
the  clerk's  desk  and  denounced  Mr.  Knott,  is  not  to  be 
rendered  upon  paper.  It  was  agreed  among  those  pres- 
ent that  it  was  the  most  stirring  scene  which  has  taken 
place  on  the  floor  of  Congress.  The  oldest  repre- 
sentatives remembered  nothing  like  it,  and  General 
Garfield  said,  **  I  have  been  a  long  time  in  Congress  and 


I50  JAMES   G.    BLAINE, 

never  saw  such  a  scene  in  the  House  ;  when  the  Eman- 
cipation amendment  to  the  Constitution  was  adopted 
there  was  an  exciting  scene,  but  nothing  like  this.  It 
seems  to  me  that  the  Judiciary  Committee  has  withheld 
important  evidence  which  will  be  ruinous  to  them,  and 
in  any  event  the  day  has  been  a  strong  one  for  Blaine 
and  his  friends." 

Men  in  the  House  of  all  parties,  and  of  all  shades  of 
political  opinion,  agreed  that  Mr.  Blaine's  vindication 
was  final,  and  the  further  action  of  the  committee  which 
had  slandered  him  was  work  of  supererogation. 


XV. 
BEFORE  THE  CONVENTIONS  OF  1876  AND  1880. 

The  animosity  toward  Mr.  Blaine  which,  by  an  inter- 
esting coincidence,  show^ed  its  head  scarcely  a  month 
preceding  the  convention  before  which  he  was  to  come 
as  the  most  prominent  candidate  for  the  presidential 
nomination  has  been  duly  treated  elsewhere.  It  is  now 
the  business  of  Mr.  Blaine's  biographer  to  give  some 
account  of  the  three  conventions  of  the  Republican 
party  at  which  he  has  been  supported  by  an  earnest 
following.  The  company  of  sturdy  friends  which  has 
three  times  urged  his  nomination  is  among  the  most 
zealous  and  persistent  that  has  sustained  any  public 
man  in  the  history  of  American  politics  :  twice  repulsed, 
they  clung  to  their  candidate  with  the  tenacity  of  faith, 
and  their  final  reward  has,  for  the  most  impartial  spec- 
tator, the  interest  which  attends  every  exhibition  of 
steadfastness.  Mr.  Blaine  set  his  followers  an  excellent 
example  in  his  honest  and  self-denying  labors  for  the 
election  of  the  two  rivals  who  had  defeated  him ;  and  it 
is  a  memorable  tribute  to  his  singleness  of  purpose, 
his  devotion  to  his  party,  untainted  by  selfish  pangs, 
that  he  could  so  heartily  support  the  man  who  at  the 


152  JAMES   G.    BLAINE. 

eleventh  hour  received  a  prize  all  but  his,  as  to  be  chosen 
to  fill  the  first  place  in  his  Cabinet. 

On  June  12,  1876,  just  before  the  meeting  of  the  first 
convention  at  which  his  name  was  proposed,  Mr. 
Blaine  experienced  a  sunstroke  in  Washington  which 
caused  alarm  at  Cincinnati,  and,  indeed,  for  a  time 
seemed  a  serious  matter.  He  appeared  to  be  in  sound 
health  before  setting  out  for  church  on  the  Sunday 
morning  of  the  occurrence,  but  after  walking  half  a  mile 
to  Rev.  Dr.  Rankin's  church,  at  Tenth  and  D  Streets,  he 
suddenly  sank  unconscious  at  the  threshold.  He  was 
carried  to  a  passing  omnibus  and  taken  home.  His 
physician  pronounced  the  cause  cerebral  depression, 
produced  primarily  by  a  great  mental  strain  and  second- 
arily by  the  action  of  excessive  heat.  Since  his  striking 
answer  in  the  House  to  the  charges  against  him  he  had 
appeared  publicly  but  once,  when  he  voted  in  the  af- 
firmative on  the  Frost  amended  Coin  bill.  His  illness 
was  the  inevitable  culmination  of  the  long  tension  to 
which  his  mind  had  been  subjected. 

At  Cincinnati  the  reports  of  his  condition  were 
greatly  exaggerated.  It  was  telegraphed  that  he  had 
been  stricken  with  apoplexy,  and  the  statement  stirred 
such  of  the  delegates  in  his  interest  as  had  arrived  in 
the  city  with  grave  fears.  The  hotels  and  telegraph 
offices  at  which  announcements  of  the  state  of  the  patient 
were  constantly  posted  during  the  afternoon  and  even- 
ing of  the  occurrence  were  thronged  with  eager  men, 
and  the  midnight  bulletin  indicating  that  the  danger 


BEFORE  THE  CONVENTIONS  OF  1876  AND  \%%-^.      I  53 

was  passed  caused  great  relief.  The  anxiety  was  gen- 
eral, and  his  most  malignant  opponents  showed  no  de- 
sire for  such  a  victory  as  for  a  time  seemed  probable. 
Nevertheless,  when  he  seemed  on  the  road  to  recovery 
there  were  not  lacking  ingenious  supporters  of  other 
candidates  willing  to  turn  the  happening  to  account. 
The  subtle  character  of  brain  diseases  was  urged  and 
the  tardiness  of  recovery  from  them  ;  and  it  was  freely 
predicted  that  if  nominated  he  would  be  unable  to  take 
the  active  part  in  the  campaign  which  had  been  ex- 
pected of  him.  Absolute  quiet,  the  well-known  need  in 
all  maladies  touching  the  brain,  would  make  the  excite- 
ment of  a  campaign  dangerous,  and  even  though  he 
might  temporarily  regain  strength,  the  party  could  have 
no  assurance  that  he  would  not  suffer  another  attack  of 
like  nature  and  die  before  the  campaign  was  over.  This 
doctor's  wisdom  v^as  seriously  urged  upon  the  abandoned 
persons  who  stiD  thought  cf  Mr.  Blaine  as  a  candidate 
with  little  effect  The  party  physicians  added  to  their 
diagnosis  the  suggestion  of  remedies  which  the  Blaine 
men  found  themselves  disinclined  to  accept.  On  June 
14th  the  patient  was  well  enough  to  dictate  to  Mr.  Hale, 
at  Cincinnati,  the  following  telegram  : 

*' Hon.  Eugene  Hale,  Cincinnati :  I  am  entirely  con- 
valescent, suffering  only  from  physical  weakness.  Im- 
press upon  my  friends  the  great  depth  of  gratitude  I  feel 
for  the  unparalleled  steadfastness  with  which  they  have 
adhered  to  me  in  my  hour  of  trial.         J.  G.  Blaine." 

The  convention  cam.e  together  in  Cincinnati  on  Wed- 


154  JAMES   G.    BLAINE. 

nesday,  June  14,  1876.  Its  organization  was  accomplished 
harmoniously.  Theodore  M,  Pomeroy,  of  New  York,  was 
appointed  temporary  chairman,  and  Edward  McPherson, 
of  Pennsylvania,  president.  The  preliminary  acts  of  the 
convention  and  the  speeches  made  showed  no  especial 
tendency  of  sentiment  except  an  inclination  toward  hard 
money  and  civil  service  reform.  A  newspaper  correspon- 
dent wrote  :  **  A  less  attractive  place  for  so  distinguished 
and  interesting  a  gathering  could  not  well  be  found  than 
this  great  barn  which  sprawls  over  four  acres — its  archi- 
tecture that  of  an  ambitious  and  disappointed  railway 
deput,  its  decorations  those  of  a  country  barbecue  on  a 
four-acre  scale,  its  rafters  innocent  of  any  tint  except  that 
of  age,  and  its  roof  an  unsightly  maze  of  beams  and  rafters. 
On  the  second  day  the  platform  was  adopted.  The 
Blaine  men  met  with  a  defeat  in  the  acceptance  of  the 
report  on  rules.  The  nominations  were  made  in  the 
following  order  :  Postmaster-General  Jewell,  Senator 
Morton,  Secretary  Bristow,  Mr.  Blaine,  Senator  Conk- 
ling,  Governor  Hayes,  and  Governor  Hartranft.  The 
nomination  of  Mr.  Bristow  by  George  William  Curtis  was 
greeted  with  loud  applause,  and  other  candidates  had 
their  share.  When  Colonel  IngersoU  rose  to  name  Mr. 
Blaine  a  great  shout  went  up.  During  his  speech  he 
was  constantly  interrupted  by  applause.  Colonel  Inger- 
soll's  address  has  always  been  regarded  by  the  friends  of 
Mr.  Blaine  as  an  admirable  summing  up  of  his  qualities, 
and  it  is  certainly  one  of  the  most  vigorous  and  brilliant 
presentations  of  a  candidate's  claims  to  public  attention 


BEFORE  THE  CONVENTIONS  OF  1876  AND  1880.     155 

that  convention  halls  remember.  It  is  filled  with  the  in- 
dividuality of  the  orator,  but  it  is  also  filled  with  the  in- 
dividuality of  his  subject  ;  and  it  is  impossible  not  to  feel, 
at  whatever  distance  from  the  occurrence,  something  of 
the  thrill  which  affected  the  convention  as  the  speaker 
ended  his  magnificent  peroration  : 

**  Massachusetts  may  be  satisfied  with  the  loyalty  of 
Benjamin  H.  Bristow  ;  so  am  I.  But  if  any  man  nom- 
inated by  this  convention  cannot  carry  the  State  of 
Massachusetts,  I  am  not  satisfied  with  the  loyalty  of  that 
State.  If  the  nominee  of  tliis  convention  cannot  carry 
the  grand  old  Commonwealth  of  Massachusetts  by 
seventy-five  thousand  majority,  I  would  advise  them  to 
sell  out  Faneuil  Hall  as  a  Democratic  headquarters.  I 
would  advise  them  to  take  from  Bunker  Hill  that  old 
monument  of  glory.  The  Republicans  of  the  United 
States  demand  as  their  leader  in  the  great  contest  of  1876 
a  man  of  intellect,  a  man  of  integrity,  a  man  of  well 
known  and  approved  political  opinions.  They  demand 
a  statesman.  They  demand  a  reformer  after  as  well  a? 
before  the  election.  They  demand  a  politician  in  the 
highest  and  broadest  and  best  sense  of  that  word.  They 
demand  a  man  acquainted  with  public  affairs,  with  the 
wants  of  the  people,  with  not  only  the  requirements  of 
the  hour,  but  the  demands  of  the  future.  They  demand 
a  man  broad  enough  to  comprehend  the  relations  of  this 
Government  to  the  other  nations  of  the  earth.  They 
demand  a  man  well  versed  in  the  powers,  duties,  and 
prerogatives  of  each  and  every  department  of  this  Gov- 


156  JAMES  G.  BLAINE. 

ernment.  They  demand  a  man  who  will  sacredly  prove 
the  financial  honor  of  the  United  States — one  who 
knows  enough  to  know  that  the  national  debt  must  be 
paid  through  the  prosperity  of  this  people.  One  who 
knows  enough  to  know  that  all  the  financial  theories  in 
the  world  cannot  redeem  a  single  dollar.  One  who 
knows  enough  to  know  that  all  the  money  must  be  made 
not  by  hand  but  by  labor.  One  who  knows  that  the  peo- 
ple of  the  United  States  have  the  industry  to  make  the 
money  and  the  honesty  to  pay  it  over  just  as  fast  as  they 
make  it.  The  Republicans  of  the  United  States  demand 
a  man  who  knows  that  prosperity  and  resumption  when 
they  come  must  come  together.  When  they  come  they 
will  come  hand  in  hand  ;  hand  m  hand  through  the 
golden  harvest-fields  ;  hand  in  hai  d  by  the  whirling  spin- 
dle and  the  turning  wheel ;  har  d  in  hand  by  the  open 
furnace-doors,  hand  in  hand  by  the  flaming  forges,  hand 
in  hand  by  the  chimneys  filled  with  eager  fire  by  the 
hands  of  the  countless  sons  of  toil.  This  money  has  got 
to  be  dug  out  of  the  earth.  You  cannot  make  it  by 
passing  resolutions  at  a  political  meeting.  The  Repub- 
licans of  the  United  States  want  a  man  who  knows  that 
this  Government  should  protect  every  citizen  at  home 
and  abroad  ;  who  knows  that  every  government  that 
will  not  defend  its  defenders  and  will  not  protect  its 
protectors  is  a  disgrace  to  the  mass  of  the  world.  They 
demand  a  man  who  believes  in  the  eternal  separation 
of  church  and  the  schools.  They  demand  a  man  whose 
political  reputation  is  spotless  as  a  star,  but  they  do  not 


BEFORE  THE  CONVEMTIO.yS  OF  iSy6A.VI)  1880.      157 

demand  that  their  candidate  shall  have  a  certificate  of 
moral  character  signed  by  a  Confederate  Congress. 
The  man  who  has  in  full  habit  and  rounded  measure 
all  of  these  splendid  qualifications  is  the  present  grand 
and  gallant  leader  of  the  Republican  party,  James  G. 
Blaine.  Our  country,  crowned  with  the  vast  and  mar- 
vellous achievements  of  its  first  century,  asks  for  a  man 
worthy  of  its  past,  prophetic  of  its  future — asks  for  a 
man  who  has  the  audacity  of  genius — asks  for  a  man 
who  is  the  grandest  combination  of  heart,  conscience, 
and  brains  beneath  the  flag.  That  man  is  James  G. 
Blaine.  For  the  Republican  host,  led  by  that  intrepid 
man,  there  can  be  no  defeat.  This  is  a  grand  year — a 
year  filled  with  the  recollections  of  the  Revolution  ; 
filled  with  proud  and  tender  memories  of  the  sacred 
past ;  filled  with  the  legends  of  liberty  ;  a  year  in  which 
the  sons  of  Freedom  will  drink  from  the  fountains  of 
enthusiasm  ;  a  year  in  which  the  people  call  for  a  man 
who  has  preserved  in  Congress  what  our  soldiers  won 
upon  the  field  ;  a  year  in  which  we  call  for  the  man 
that  has  torn  from  the  throat  of  treason  the  tongue  of 
slander  ;  a  man  that  has  snatched  the  mask  of  democ- 
racy from  the  hideous  face  of  rebellion  ;  a  man  who, 
like  an  intellectual  athlete,  stood  in  the  arena  of  debate, 
challenged  all  comers,  and  who  up  to  this  moment  is  a 
total  stranger  to  defeat.  Like  an  armed  warrior,  like  a 
plumed  knight,  James  G.  Blaine  marched  down  the  halls 
of  the  American  Congress  and  threw  his  shining  lances 
full  and  fair  against   the  brazen   forehead  of  every  de- 


158  JAMES  G.  BLAINE. 

famer  of  his  country  and  maligner  of  its  honor.  For 
the  Republican  party  to  desert  that  gallant  man  now  is 
worse  than  if  an  army  should  desert  their  general  on 
the  field  of  battle.  James  G.  Blaine  is  now  and  has 
been  for  years  the  bearer  of  the  sacred  standard  of  the 
Republic.  I  call  it  sacred  because  no  human  being 
can  stand  beneath  its  folds  without  becoming  and  with- 
out remaining  free.  Gentlemen  of  the  Convention,  in 
the  name  of  the  great  Republic — the  only  Republic  that 
ever  existed  upon  this  earth — in  the  name  of  all  her 
defenders  and  all  her  supporters  ;  in  the  name  of  all 
her  soldiers  living,  in  the  name  of  all  her  soldiers  who 
died  upon  the  field  of  battle,  and  in  the  name  of  those 
that  perished  in  the  skeleton  clutch  of  famine  at  Ander- 
sonville  and  Libby— whose  sufferings  he  so  eloquently 
remembers — Illinois  nominates  for  the  next  President 
of  this  country  that  prince  of  parliamentarians,  that 
leader  of  leaders,  James  G.  Blaine." 

The  muddy  shower  of  detraction  that  fell  upon  Mr. 
Blaine  in  the  month  preceding  the  convention  which 
has  nominated  him  is  a  weak  afterburst  compared  with 
the  storm  which  assailed  him  before  the  convention  of 
1876.  A  week  had  scarcely  passed  since  the  memorable 
day  of  his  striking  vindication  of  himself  on  the  floor 
of  the  House.  The  slanders  against  him  were  of  no 
notable  importance  until  within  a  fortnight  of  the  con- 
vention. The  shortness  of  the  time  left  him  with  op- 
portunity for  nothing  but  a  peremptory  defence,  and 
his  enemies,  who  had  brought  about  this  situation,  took 


BEFORE  THE  CONVENTIONS  OF  i%i^  AND  1880.      159 


the  amplest  advantage  of  it.  There  were  doubts  of  the 
expediency  of  his  nomination  among  certain  Republi- 
cans and  Republican  newspapers  then  as  there  have  re- 
cently been — indeed  among  more  Republicans  and  more 
party  journals,  as  the  matter  was  so  fresh.  But  his 
friends  kept  their  unswerving  faith,  and  strengthened 
and  heartened  by  his  splendid  personal  answer  to  his 
defamers  went  into  the  convention  the  staunchest  and 
most  enthusiastic  body  gathered  to  the  support  of  any 
of  its  candidates. 

Some  recollection  of  this  recent  event  must  remain  in 
all  minds,  but  a  summary  of  the  ballots  will  refresh 
memory  : 


Hayes    

Blaine 

Morton 

Bristow 

Conkling 

Hartranft 

Jewell 

Wm.  A.  Wheeler 

Elihu  B.  Washburne 

Whole  number  of  votes  . . 

Necessary  to  choice 


61 

28s 

125 

113 

99 

58 

II 

3 


754 


*: 

^ 

i 

0 

2. 

0 

rt 

'A 

rt 

rt 

rt 

»« 

5 

A 

A 

« 

M 

'i* 

»!5 

0 

64 

67 

68 

104 

113 

296 

293 

292 

286 

308 

120 

113 

108 

95 

85 

114 

121 

126 

114 

III 

93 

90 

84 

82 

81 

.^3 

68 

71 

69 

50 

withdrawn. 

3 

2 

2 

2 

2 

I 

I 

3 

3 

5 

754 

755 

754 

755 

755 
378 

378 

378 

378 

378 

384 
351 


756 


379 


Fair  and  conservative  estimates  before  the  Mulligan 
affair  had  set  down  his  strength  on  the  first  ballot  at  286 
votes.  In  spite  of  it  he  received  285,  and  added  to  it 
immediately  11  further,  making  296.    From  this  the  vote 


l6o  JAMES  G.   BLAINE. 

varied  until  the  sixth  ballot,  when  it  reached  308.  On 
the  seventh  it  attained  351,  within  28  votes  of  the  neces- 
sary number,  when  by  a  union  of  Morton,  Bristow,  Conk- 
ling,  and  Hartranft,  Governor  Hayes  was  named  as  the 
candidate  of  the  convention.  It  was  the  strategy  of  des- 
peration, for  Mr.  Blaine  would  almost  surely  have  been 
nominated  on  the  next  ballot. 

Mr.  Blaine  entered  the  next  convention,  held  at  Chi- 
cago, June  2,  1880,  with  almost  exactly  the  same  num- 
ber of  supporters  which  had  striven  for  him  in  the  pre- 
ceding  contest.  The  fact  is  remarkable,  and  most 
remarkable  to  those  who  are  best  acquainted  with  the 
usual  working  of  politics  in  this  country.  Four  years 
had  been  offered  his  opponents  to  make  combinations 
against  him,  four  years  had  been  allowed  his  friends  to 
forget  him.  He  returned  to  the  front  after  that  period 
with  a  force  changed  almost  entirely  as  to  its  composi- 
tion, but  with  only  one  of  the  number  missing.  It  was 
as  if  he  had  held  them  upon  waiting  orders  during  the 
term  of  Mr.  Hayes'  administration. 

Nothing  could  be  farther  from  the  truth.  Person- 
ally, Mr.  Blaine  has  organized  liO  army  of  delegates, 
and  certainly  has  made  no  effort  to  control  them  dur- 
ing epochs  of  inaction.  He  has  had  generals,  but  they 
have  not  been  of  his  appointing.  The  maintenance  of 
his  strength  in  three  successive  conventions  would 
have  been  a  task  worthy  the  labor  of  the  shrewdest 
political  manager,  but  it  was  not  due  to  masters  of  the 
art  of  politics.     The  demand  for  Mr.  Blaine's  nomina- 


BEFORE  THE  CO^VEXTIOyS  OF  i8-j6  AiVI)  1880.      161 

tion  has  risen  from  a  permanent  sentiment  in  his  favor 
among  men  who  were  not  officers  in  the  Republican 
organization,  and  whose  share  in  elections  consisted  in 
casting  an  unbought  ballot  at  the  preliminary  caucus 
and  at  the  polls.  This  is  admitted  by  his  antagonists, 
and  surely  constitutes  the  kind  of  support  which  its 
object  should  be  most  glad  to  own,  and  which,  as  has 
been  proved,  is  the  one  species  of  allegiance  impossi- 
ble to  defeat.  Mr.  Blaine  has  been  solicited  at  the 
gathering  of  each  convention  to  lend  his  followers  the 
strength  of  his  presence.  It  is  a  move  in  which  other 
candidates  have  found  no  impropriety,  and  which,  in  Mr. 
Blaine's  case,  would  have  bad  an  especial  influence.  But 
he  has  steadily  refused,  r^nd  in  the  three  contests  in  which 
his  name  has  been  used,  aloof  from  the  strife,  has  borne 
himself  with  singular  modesty,  calmness,  and  dignity. 

"  One  element  in  his  nature  "  says  one  who  knows  him, 
*'  impresses  itself  on  my  mind  in  a  very  emphatic  manner, 
and  that  is  his  coolness  and  self-possession  at  the  most 
exciting  crises.  I  happened  to  be  in  his  library  in 
Washington  when  the  balloting  was  going  on  in  Cin- 
cinnati on  that  hot  July  day  in  1876.  A  telegraph  in- 
strument was  on  his  library  table,  and  Mr.  Sherman,  his 
private  secretary,  a  deft  operator,  was  manipulating  its 
key.  Dispatches  came  from  dozens  of  friends  giving  the 
last  votes,  which  only  lacked  a  few  of  a  nomination,  and 
everybody  predicted  the  success  of  Blaine  on  the  next 
ballot.  Only  four  persons  besides  Mr.  Sherman  were  in 
the  room.     It  was  a  moment  of  great  excitement.     The 


1 62  JAMES  G,  BLAINE. 

next  vote  was  quietly  ticked  over  the  wire,  and  then  the 
next  announced  the  nomination  of  Mr.  Hayes.  Mr. 
Blaine  was  the  only  cool  person  in  the  apartment.  It 
was  such  a  reversal  of  all  anticipations  and  assurances 
that  self-possession  was  out  of  the  question  except  with 
Mr.  Blaine.  He  had  just  left  his  bed  after  tw^o  days  of 
unconsciousness  with  sunstroke,  but  he  was  as  self-pos- 
sessed as  the  portraits  on  the  wall.  He  merely  gave  a 
murmur  of  surprise,  and  before  anybody  had  recovered 
from  the  surprise,  he  had  written,  in  a  firm,  fluent  hand, 
three  dispatches — now  in  my  possession — one  to  Mr. 
Hayes  of  congratulation  ;  one  to  the  Maine  delegates 
thanking  them  for  their  devotion,  and  another  to  Eu- 
gene Hale  and  Mr.  Frye,  asking  them  to  go  personally 
to  Mr.  Hayes,  at  Columbus,  and  present  his  good-will, 
with  promises  of  hearty  aid  in  the  campaign.  The  oc- 
casion affected  him  no  more  than  the  news  of  a  servant 
quitting  his  employ  would  have  done.  Half  an  hour 
afterward  he  was  out  with  Secretary  Fisli  in  an  open 
carriage,  receiving  the  cheers  of  the  thousands  of  peo- 
ple who  were  gathered  about  the  telegraph  bulletins." 

On  June  ist,  at  Chicago,  the  New  Jersey  and  Vermont 
delegations  declared  against  the  unit  rule,  and  eighteen 
New  York  delegates  signed  a  protest  against  the  nomi- 
nation of  General  Grant  ;  twenty-nine  members  of  the 
National  Committee  also  denounced  the  unit  rule.  The 
chairman,  Senator  Cameron,  refused  to  entertain  the 
motions  of  the  opposition  or  to  permit  appeal  from 
the  decision  of  the  chair  upon  the  question.  The  anti- 
third  term   majority  met  next  day  and  adopted  a  res- 


BEFORE  THE  CONVENTIONS  OF  i2,'j6  AND  1880.      1 63 

olution  unseating  the  chairman,  Mr.  Cameron.  At  the 
request  of  Senator  Conkling  General  Arthur  made  an 
effort  to  conciliate  the  disaffected  members,  and  a  com- 
promise followed  by  which  the  unit  rule  was  abandoned 
in  forming  the  temporary  organization. 

On  June  2d  the  convention  organized,  George  F.  Hoar, 
of  Massachusetts,  being  chosen  temporary  chairman, 
and  the  committee  voted  Lo  propose  his  name  for  per- 
manent chairman.  Mr.  Conger,  of  Michigan,  one  of  Mr. 
Blaine's  supporters,  was  made  chairman  of  the  Com- 
mittee on  Credentials.  General  Garfield,  as  every  one 
remembers,  received  the  appointment  to  the  chairman- 
ship on  Rules,  and  on  the  following  day  reported  the 
admirable  code  which  guided  the  convention.  It  did 
not  include  the  unit  rule.  Little  business  of  interest 
was  transacted  on  Friday  and  Saturday.  At  the  night 
session,  Saturday,  the  nominations  were  made.  When 
Maine  was  called  James  F.  Jay,  chairman  of  the  Michi- 
gan delegation,  responded,  making  a  speech  for  Mr. 
Blaine  which  created  an  enthusiasm  disproportionate 
to  its  value.  His  manner  of  delivery  was  unfortunate 
and  did  not  command  the  attention  of  the  convention, 
but  the  Blaine  delegates  cheered  with  no  less  hearty 
will  at  the  mention  of  their  candidate's  name.  Mr. 
Pixley,  of  California,  seconded  the  nomination  in  a 
sound  and  pointed  speech.  At  its  close  Mr.  Frye,  of 
Maine,  appeared  at  Mr.  Hoar's  side,  and  the  chairman 
said  Mr.  Frye  asked  unanimous  consent  to  be  allowed 
to  speak  for  two  minutes.  It  was  granted,  and  his 
brief  but  admirably  chosen  words,  filled  with  genuine 


1 64 


JAMES  G.   BLAINE. 


feeling,  were  the  most  telling  of  the  day.     They  were 
interrupted  by  constant  indications  of  approval. 

The  wearisome  balloting  that  followed  is  familiar  to 
every  reader,  but  that  it  may  be  seen  with  what  stead- 
fastness Mr.  Blaine's  friends  clung  to  him  a  tabulated 
statement  of  the  thirty-six  ballots  is  given  herewith 


1 

H 

+5 

i  i 
%  1 

I 

1 

A 

■*» 

i 

i 

O 

i 

A 

H 

I 

2 

1 

CO 

H 

1 
A 

o 
1 

1 

A 

B 

A 

■*» 

H 

1 
S 

X 
H 

James  A.  Garfield. . . 

:..!  ii  1 

1 

305 
281 
95 
31 
S3 
10 

1      2i     2 

1      2 

2 

305 
282 
92 
32 
31 
10 
1 

2 

305 
281 
93 
32 
31 
10 
1 

1 

304 

283 

92 

31 
10 

1 

1 

Ulysses  S.  Grant .... 

James  G.  Blaine 

John  Sherman 

Elihu  B.  Washburne. 
George  F.  Edmunds. 
William  Windom  . . . 
Rutherford  B.  Haves. 

304 
284 
98 
31 
34 
10 

305 
282 
94 
81 
32 
10 

3('5 
282 
93 
31 
32 
10 

305 
281 
95 
31 
32 
10 

305 

280 

95 

31 

305 
281 
94 
31 
32 
10 

30H 
284 
91 
32 
31 
10 

308 
2b2 
90 
32 
31 
10 

305 
285 
89 
33 
31 
lu 

305 
285 
89 
35 
31 
10 

309 
281 
88 
36 
31 
10 

306 
2S3 
88 
36 
31 
10 

303 
284 
90 

31 
10 

3(5 
28? 
91 
3£ 
31 
1 

George  \V.  McCrary . 
Eloscoe  Conkling 

John  F.  Hartranft  . . 

... 

■ 

Edmund  T.  Davis  . . 

■ 

1 

Philip  H.  Sheridan  . 

Benjamin  Harrison  . 
Total 

Necessiiry  to  choice  . 

755 
378 

755 
378 

1 
7  5 
378 

1 
^8 

1 
7.55 
378 

378 

755 

378 

755 

378 

755 

378 

755 

378 

755 

378 

755 

378 

755 

378 

755 

378 

755 

37S 

754 
378 

755  't55 
378^378 

^. 

..-. 

■^    ^ 

^ 

*; 

«■ 

^ 

^. 

■^ 

*3 

_^ 

o 

^    ^ 

o 

o 

n 

B 

2 

n 

-3 

"^ 

B    B 

J 

B 

B 

B 

s 

I 

1 

^ 

B 

B 

B 

A 

A 

■s 

=    ^ 

A 

A 

^ 

A 

A 

■^ 

n 

A 

A 

A 

7 

T7 

ns 

© 

H 

y 

M 

^     w 

o 

t^ 

<jri 

a 

c 

IV 

n 

"* 

•fj 

^ 

H 

« 

f» 

« 

W 

«  |« 

« 

« 

« 

« 

w 

M 

M 

n 

1 

w 

n 

James  A.  Garfi  -Id. . . 

1 

1 

1 

1 

2 

2      2 

2 

2      2 

2 

2 

1 

1 

17  250  399 

Ulvs<e-  S.  Grant 

305 

308  315 

305 

.304  305  302 

303 

306  307  305 

306  3118  309.309.312  313 

306 

James  G.  Blaine  ....  .279 

276  276 

275 

275  279  281 

280  277  279  278 

279  276  -276  276  275 

57 

42 

John  Sherman 

96 

93    96 

97 

97 

93    94 

93    93    91 

116 

120  118  117  100  107 

99 

3 

HihuB.  Washburne. 

32 

35    t5 

35'  36 

35    S5 

36 

36    35 

35 

33    37    44 

44 

30 

23 

5 

George  F.  Edmunds. 

31 

31 

31 

31    31 

31 

31 

31 

31    31 

12 

11 

11 

11 

11 

11 

11 

William  Windom.... 

10 

10 

10 

10    10 

10 

10 

10 

10    10 

7 

4 

3 

3 

4 

4 

3 

Rutherford  B.  Hayes. 

George  W.  McCrary  . 

1 

John  P.  Hartranft.. 

1 

1 

1 

1 

Edmund  T.  Davis... 

Philip  H.  Sheridan.. 

1 

Benjamin  Harrison  . 

Total 

755 

^ 

755 

755 

^ 

m 

755 

755 

755 

755 

755 

755 

755  755  755  756 

756 

755 

Necessary  to  choice  . 

378 

378  378 

378 

378 

378 

•;78 

378 

378378 

378 

378 

378  378  378  379 

379 

378 

BEFORE  THE  CONVENTIONS  OF  iSyS  ANT>  1880.      1 65 

Those  who  were  engaged  in  the  effort  to  nominate 
General  Grant  were  scarcely  more  faithful.  On  the 
first  ballot  it  will  be  seen  Mr.  Blaine  was  the  choice  of 
284  delegates  and  from  this  his  support  did  not  appreci- 
ably fail  until  the  19th  ballot,  when  the  number  was  279. 
His  vote  fell  only  once  as  low  as  270  ;  until  the  last  two 
ballots,  with  this  exception,  it  was  not  less  than  275. 

The  dogged  perseverance  which  characterized  the 
third  term  men  and  forbade  them  to  assist  in  the  nomi- 
nation of  another  candidate,  however  hopeless  the  for- 
tunes of  their  own,  was  not  emulated  by  those  who 
through  34  ballots  cast  their  votes  steadily  for  Mr. 
Blaine.  When  it  became  evident  that  the  man  of  their 
choice  could  not  become  the  nominee  of  the  convention 
a  wise  spirit  of  moderation  prevailed,  and  the  vote  of  the 
Blaine  delegation  was  cast  almost  entire  for  General 
Garfield.  But  for  this  act  Garfield  could  not  have  been 
nominated.  If  it  was  a  surrender,  it  was  the  kind  of 
surrender  which  carries  with  it  something  of  the  lustre 
of  victory. 


XVI. 

SECRETARY  OF   STATE. 

General  Garfield's  selection  of  Mr.  Blaine  for  the 
first  position  in  his  Cabinet  was  not  the  outcome  of  his 
efforts  in  his  cause  during  the  campaign.  Many  others 
might  have  been  as  properly  chosen  on  that  score.  It 
was  made  in  recognition  of  his  fitness  for  the  post,  and 
as  a  compliment  to  a  trusted  friend.  When  he  visited 
Washington  soon  after  the  election  he  wrote  Mr.  Blaine 
appointing  a  meeting  with  him  in  that  city  about  No- 
vember 24th.  The  ex-Senator  reached  Washington 
November  26th.  In  the  course  of  the  colloquy  which 
followed  General  Garfield  offered  him  the  State  Depart- 
ment. Mr.  Blaine  was  surprised  by  this  honor.  "  I 
was  hardly  prepared  for  it,"  he  told  the  President-elect. 
"  I  do  not  know  how  to  make  answer.  I  would  like 
some  time  for  reflection  and  consultation."  General 
Garfield,  though  urging  him  to  accept,  readily  granted 
him  space  for  thought,  and  Mr.  Blaine  asked  the  advice 
of  his  intimate  friends.  They  were  inclined  to  think  he 
would  do  best  to  accept  the  place.  But  Mr.  Blaine  did 
not  yet  decide  to  take  the  charge.     He  said  :  "  If  the 


SECRETARY  OF  STATE.  1 6/ 

sentiment  of  the  country  indorses  the  selection  General 
Garfield  has  made,  I  will  accept  the  office,  otherwise  not." 
It  began  to  be  announced  through  the  press  that  the 
offer  had  been  made,  and  the  tone  of  newspaper  com- 
ment was  so  favorable  that  Mr.  Blaine  accepted  the  re- 
sponsibilities of  the  State  Department,  without  more 
hesitation.  His  letter  of  acceptance  best  gives  the  rea- 
sons which  led  him  to  make  this  determination  : 

"Washington,  December  20,  1880. 

*'  My  Dear  Garfield  :  Your  generous  invitation  to 
enter  your  Cabinet  as  Secretary  of  State  has  been  un- 
der consideration  for  more  than  three  weeks.  The 
thought  had  really  never  occurred  to  my  mind  until  at 
our  late  conference  you  presented  it  with  such  cogent 
arguments  in  its  favor  and  with  such  warmth  of  personal 
friendship  in  aid  of  your  kind  offer. 

*'  I  know  that  an  early  answer  is  desirable,  and  I  have 
waited  only  long  enough  to  consider  the  subject  in  all 
its  bearings,  and  to  make  up  my  mind,  definitely  and 
conclusively.  I  now  say  to  you,  in  the  same  cordial 
spirit  in  which  you  have  invited  me,  that  I  accept  the 
position. 

"  It  is  no  affectation  for  me  to  add  that  I  make  this 
decision,  not  for  the  honor  of  the  promotion  it  gives  me 
in  the  public  service,  but  because  I  think  I  can  be  use- 
ful to  the  country  and  to  the  party  ;  useful  to  you  as 
the  responsible  leader  of  the  party  and  the  great  head 
of  the  Government. 


1 68  JAMES   G.    BLAINE. 

**  I  am  influenced  somewhat,  perhaps,  by  the  shower 
of  letters  I  have  received  urging  me  to  accept,  written  to 
me  in  consequence  of  the  mere  unauthorized  newspaper 
report  that  you  had  been  pleased  to  offer  me  the  place. 
While  I  have  received  these  letters  from  all  sections  of 
the  Union,  I  have  been  especially  pleased  and  even  sur- 
prised at  the  cordial  and  widely  extended  feeling  in  my 
favor  throughout  New  England,  where  I  had  expected 
to  encounter  local  jealousy  and  perhaps  rival  aspiration. 

"  In  our  new  relation  I  shall  give  all  that  I  am  and  all 
that  I  can  hope  to  be,  freely  and  joyfully,  to  your  ser- 
vice. You  need  no  pledge  of  my  loyalty  in  heart  and 
in  act.  I  should  be  false  to  myself  did  I  not  prove  true 
both  to  the  great  trust  you  confide  to  me  and  to  your 
own  personal  and  political  fortunes  in  the  present  and 
in  the  future.  Your  administration  must  be  made  brill- 
iantly successful  and  strong  in  the  confidence  and  pride 
of  the  people,  not  at  all  directing  its  energies  for  re- 
election, and  yet  compelling  that  result  by  the  logic  of 
events  and  by  the  imperious  necessities  of  the  situation. 

*'  To  that  most  desirable  consummation  I  feel  that, 
next  to  yourself,  I  can  possibly  contribute  as  much  in- 
fluence as  any  otherone  man.  I  say  this  not  from  egotism 
or  vainglory,  but  merely  as  a  deduction  from  a  plain 
analysis  of  the  political  forces  which  have  been  at  work 
in  the  country  for  five  years  past,  and  which  have  been 
signif  ::antly  shown  in  two  great  national  conventions. 
1  accept  it  as  one  of  the  happiest  circumstances  con- 
nected with  this  affair  that  in  allying  my  political  for- 


SECRETARY  OF  STATE.  1 69 

tunes  with  yours — or  rather  for  the  time  merging  mine 
in  yours — my  heart  goes  with  my  head,  and  that  I  carry 
to  you  not  only  political  support  but  personal  and  de- 
voted friendship.  I  can  but  regard  it  as  somewhat  re- 
markable that  two  men  of  the  same  age,  entering  Con- 
gress at  the  same  time,  influenced  by  the  same  aims  and 
cherishing  the  same  ambitions,  should  never,  for  a  sin- 
gle moment  in  eighteen  years  of  close  intimacy,  have 
had  a  misunderstanding  or  a  coolness,  and  that  our 
friendship  has  steadily  grown  with  our  growth  and 
strengthened  with  our  strength. 

''  It  is  this  fact  which  has  led  me  to  the  conclusion  em- 
bodied in  this  letter  ;  for  however  much,  my  dear  Gar- 
field, I  might  admire  you  as  a  statesman,  I  would  not 
enter  your  Cabinet  if  I  did  not  believe  in  you  as  a  man 
and  love  you  as  a  friend.     Always  faithfully  yours, 

''James  G.   Blaine." 

Mr.  Blaine's  season  of  service  in  his  new  office  began 
with  the  inauguration  of  the  President,  March  5,  1881, 
and  was  completed  when  on  December  19th  of  the  same 
year  he  resigned  the  portfolio  of  State.  In  this  time  it 
was  impossible  to  accomplish  anything  of  importance, 
but  the  chief  of  his  large-minded  plans  was  near  fruition 
when  he  relinquished  his  place  in  the  Cabinet.  Scarce- 
ly four  mionths  passed  before  the  President  was  shot 
down.  During  the  three  months  that  followed  he  was  in 
constant  attendance  upon  his  bedside,  and  when  he 
died  the  short  time  during  which  he  continued  in  office 


I/O  JAMES  G.  BLAINE. 

was  of  little  value  in  carrying  out  his  designs — the 
friendly  aid  and  countenance  of  him  under  whom  they 
had  been  conceived  being  lacliing.  But  the  brevity  of 
the  time  given  for  maturing  his  policy  being  considered 
it  may  be  traced  with  some  distinctness,  and  his  inten- 
tions at  least  may  be  set  down  with  confidence.  That 
policy,  in  accordance  with  its  author's  character,  was  de- 
cided but  pacific.  It  contemplated  the  conclusion  of 
peace  in  South  America,  and  looked  to  the  prevention 
of  future  wars  in  both  of  the  Americas.  Its  subordi- 
nate object  was  the  cultivation  of  such  amicable  rela^ 
tions  with  the  South  American  States  as  would  lead  to 
a  large  increase  of  trade  with  them.  It  was  a  broad 
and  enlightened  line  of  conduct  for  the  United  States, 
and  the  dangers  which  its  adversaries  have  found  lurk- 
ing behind  it  are  the  discoveries  of  active  and  easily 
alarmed  imaginations. 

It  w^as  in  regard  to  the  relations  with  England  likely 
to  be  brought  about  by  pursuance  of  this  policy  that  the 
prophetic  fancies  of  these  persons  were  exercised.  The 
issue  with  that  nation  arose  upon  the  proposition  made 
by  the  Colombian  Republic  to  the  European  Powers 
that  they  should  join  in  guaranteeing  the  neutrality  of 
tlie  Panama  Canal.  Acting  under  the  advice  of  his 
Secretary,  President  Garfield  early  in  his  term  reminded 
the  governments  of  Europe  that  the  United  States  had 
secured  exclusive  rights  with  the  country  through  which 
the  canal  w^as  to  be  built,  and  that  the  suggested  guaran- 
tee would  be   futile,  and    not  without  offence  to  the 


SECRETARY   OF  STATE.  17 1 

United  States.  These  exclusive  rights  made  it  neces- 
sary that  the  guarantee  of  this  country  should  be  se- 
cured before  it  was  asked  from  abroad.  This  state- 
ment of  the  position  of  the  Government  was  directly  in 
the  line  of  President  Garfield's  inaugural  address,  and 
if  it  was  in  any  degree  mistaken,  history  will  show  that 
his  concern  in  it  was  quite  equal  to  his  Secretary's. 
He  said  that  he  repeated  the  expressions  of  his  prede- 
cessor in  declaring  that  it  Was  **the  riglit  and  duty  of 
the  United  States  to  assert  and  maintain  such  super- 
vision and  authority  over  any  interoceanic  canal  across 
the  isthmus  that  connects  North  and  South  America  as 
will  protect  our  national  interests."  The  United  States 
had  in  the  Clayton-Bulwer  treaty  of  1850  made  provis- 
ions with  Great  Britain  as  to  the  Isthmus,  and  Mr. 
Blaine  made  formal  proposal  that  all  agreements  made 
in  it,  not  in  harmony  with  the  privileges  and  guarantee 
secured  by  the  convention  entered  into  between  the 
United  States  and  the  Colombian  Republic,  be  abro- 
gated. It  was  Mr.  Blaine's  contention  that  the  Clayton- 
Bulwer  treaty  gave  England  for  all  essential  purposes 
the  control  of  any  interoceanic  waterway  which  might 
be  cut  through  the  Panama  Isthmus  ;  for  England's  su- 
perior naval  power  would  render  any  opposition  of  the 
United  States  upon  the  water  fruitless.  Having  agreed 
not  to  fight  in  the  Isthmus  nor  to  fortify  the  mouths 
of  any  canal  that  might  be  built  across  it  in  the  event 
of  a  contest  with  England,  this  country,  urged  Mr. 
Blaine,  would  be  placed  under  a  disadvantage  so  deci- 


1/2  JAMES    C.    BLAIXE. 

ded  that  struggle  would  be  useless.  *'  The  treaty,"  he 
wrote,  "  commands  this  Government  not  to  use  a  single 
regiment  of  troops  to  protect  its  interests  in  connection 
with  the  interoceanic  canal,  but  to  surrender  the  transit 
to  the  guardianship  and  control  of  the  English  navy." 

"The  logic  of  this  paper,"  says  an  excellent  authority, 
''was  unanswerable  from  an  American  point  of  view.  If 
the  Monroe  doctrine  be  anything  more  than  a  tradition, 
the  control  of  the  Panama  Canal  must  not  be  allowed  to 
pass  out  of  American  hands  ;  and  since  the  country'  hav- 
ing the  most  powerful  navy  is  the  real  guardian  of  the 
freedom  of  an  interoceanic  canal  under  any  system  of 
international  guarantees,  or  In  the  absence  of  treaty  law, 
the  Panama  Canal,  as  Mr.  Blaine  said,  under  the  Clay- 
ton-Bulwer  treaty  would  be  surrendered,  if  not  in  form 
yet  in  effect,  to  the  control  of  Great  Britain." 

Said  Mr.  Curtis  in  Harper  s  Weekly :  ''The  letter  is  a 
temperate  and  dignified  document,  stating  our  position 
with  blended  spirit  and  courtesy  and  decision.  It  is 
capitally  adapted  to  meet  any  such  proposition  as  a 
joint  European  protectorate,  had  it  been  advanced.  But 
whether  the  project  was  merely  a  tenative  rumor  or  a 
design  seriously  entertained,  the  letter  has  sufficed  to 
arrest  it,  and  it  is  another  illustration  of  the  skill  and 
ability  with  which  Mr.  Blaine  has  managed  the  depart- 
ment confided  to  him.  He  has  what  may  be  called  the 
American  instinct,  an  essential  quality  in  our  foreign 
secretary",  yet  restrained  in  its  official  expression  by  an 
equally  American  tact  and  good  sense." 


SECRETARY   OF  STATE.  1 73 

But  the  act  by  which  Mr.  Blaine's  administration  of 
his  office  will  be  best  remembered  is  his  invitation  to 
the  republics  of  South  America  to  come  together  at 
Washington  in  a  Peace  Congress  with  the  United  States. 
The  letter  in  which  he  made  this  proposition  is  wxll 
worth  attention  : 

''Department  of  State, 
"Washington,  November  29,  1881. 

"Sir  :  The  attitude  of  the  United  States  with  regard 
to  the  question  of  general  peace  on  the  American  con- 
tinent is  well  known  through  its  persistent  eiforts  for 
years  past  to  avert  the  evils  of  warfare,  or,  the  efforts 
failing,  to  bring  positive  conflicts  to  an  end  through  pa- 
cific counsels,  or  the  advocacy  of  impartial  arbitration. 
This  attitude  has  been  consistently  maintained,  and  al- 
ways wuth  such  fairness  as  to  leave  no  room  for  the  im- 
puting to  our  Government  any  motive  except  the  hu- 
mane and  disinterested  one  of  saving  the  kindred  States 
on  the  American  continent  from  the  burdens  of  war. 
The  position  of  the  United  States  as  the  leading  power 
of  the  New  World  might  well  give  to  its  Government 
the  claim  to  authoritative  utterance  for  the  purpose  of 
quieting  discord  among  its  neighbors,  with  all  of  whom 
the  most  friendly  relation  exists.  Nevertheless,  the  good 
offices  of  this  Government  are  not,  and  have  not,  at  any 
time,  been  tendered  with  a  show  of  compulsion  or  dic- 
tation, but  only  as  exhibiting  the  solicitous  good-will 
of  a  common  friend. 


174  JAMES  G.  BLAINE. 

"  For  some  years  past  a  growing  disposition  has  been 
manifested  by  certain  States  of  Central  and  South  Amer- 
ica to  refer  disputes  affecting  grave  questions  of  inter- 
national relationship  and  boundaries  to  arbitration  rather 
than  to  the  sword.  It  has  been  on  several  such  occasions 
a  source  of  profound  satisfaction  to  the  Government  of 
the  United  States  to  see  that  this  country  is,  in  a  large 
measure,  looked  to  by  all  the  American  powers  as  their 
friend  and  mediator. 

*' The  just  and  impartial  counsel  of  the  President  in 
such  cases  has  never  been  withheld,  and  his  efforts  have 
been  rewarded  by  the  prevention  of  sanguinary  strife, 
or  angry  contentions  between  people  whom  we  regard 
as  brethren. 

"  The  existence  of  this  growling  tendency  convinces 
the  President  that  the  time  is  ripe  for  a  proposal  that 
shall  enlist  the  good-will  and  active  co-operation  of  all 
the  States  of  the  Western  hemisphere,  both  North  and 
South,  in  the  interest  of  humanity,  and  for  the  com- 
mon weal  of  nations.  He  conceives  that  none  of  the 
governments  of  America  can  be  less  alive  than  our  own  to 
the  dangers  and  horrors  of  a  state  of  war,  and  especially 
of  war  between  kinsmen.  He  is  sure  that  none  of  the 
chiefs  of  governments  on  the  continent  can  be  less  sensi- 
tive than  he  is  to  the  sacred  duty  of  making  every  en- 
deavor to  do  away  with  the  chances  of  fratricidal  strife. 
And  he  looks  with  hopeful  confidence  to  such  active  as- 
sistance from  them  as  will  help  to  show  the  broadness  of 
our  common    humanity,   and    the   strength   of    the  ties 


SECRETARY  OF  STATE.  1/5 

which  bind  us  all  together  as  a  great  and  harmonious 
system  of  American  commonwealths. 

*'  Impressed  by  these  views,  the  President  extends 
to  all  the  independent  countries  of  North  and  South 
America  an  earnest  invitation  to  participate  in  a  gen- 
eral congress  to  be  held  in  the  city  of  Washington  on 
the  24th  day  of  November  1882,  for  the  purpose  of  con- 
sidering and  discussing  the  methods  of  preventing  war 
between  the  nations  of  America.  He  desires  that  the 
attention  of  the  congress  shall  be  strictly  confined  to 
this  one  great  object,  that  its  sole  aim  shall  be  to  seek 
a  way  of  permanently  averting  the  horrors  of  cruel  and 
bloody  combat  between  countries  oftenest  of  one  blood 
and  speech  ;  or  the  even  worse  calamity  of  internal 
commotion  and  civil  strife  ;  that  it  shall  regard  the 
burdensome  and  far-reaching  consequences  of  such 
struggles,  the  legacies  of  exhausted  finances,  of  op- 
pressive debt,  of  onerous  taxation,  of  ruined  cities,  of 
paralyzed  industries,  of  devastated  fields,  of  ruthless 
conscription,  of  the  slaughter  of  men,  of  the  grief  of 
the  widow  and  orphan,  of  embittered  resentments  that 
long  survive  those  who  provoked  them,  and  heavily 
afflict  the  innocent  generations  that  come  after. 

"  The  President  is  especially  desirous  to  have  it  un- 
derstood that  in  putting  forth  this  invitation  the  United 
States  does  not  assume  the  position  of  counselling,  or 
attempting  through  the  voice  of  the  congress  to  coun- 
sel, any  determinate  solution  of  existing  questions 
which  may  now  divide  any  of  the  countries  of  America. 


I'jG  JAMES  G.   BLAINE. 

Such  questions  cannot  properly  come  before  the  con- 
gress. Its  mission  is  higher.  It  is  to  provide  for  the 
interest  of  all  in  the  future,  not  to  settle  the  individual 
differences  of  the  present.  For  this  reason  especially 
the  President  has  indicated  a  day  for  the  assembling  of 
the  congress  so  far  in  the  future  as  to  leave  good  ground 
for  hope  that  by  the  time  named  the  present  situation 
on  the  South  Pacific  coast  will  be  happily  terminated, 
and  that  those  engaged  in  the  contest  may  take  peace- 
able part  in  the  discussion  and  solution  of  the  gen- 
eral question  affecting  in  an  equal  degree  the  well- 
being  of  all. 

*'It  seems  also  desirable  to  disclaim  in  advance  any 
purpose  on  the  part  of  the  United  States  to  prejudge 
the  issues  to  be  presented  to  the  congress.  It  is  far 
from  the  intent  of  this  Government  to  appear  before  the 
congress  as  in  any  sense  the  protector  of  its  neighbors, 
or  the  predestined  and  necessary  arbitrator  of  their 
disputes.  The  United  States  will  enter  into  the  delib- 
erations of  the  congress  on  the  same  footing  with  the 
other  powers  represented,  and  with  the  loyal  determina- 
tion to  approach  any  proposed  solution  not  only  in  its 
own  interest,  but  as  a  single  member  among  many  co- 
ordinate and  co-equal  States.  So  far  as  the  influence 
of  this  Government  may  be  potential,  it  will  be  exerted 
in  the  direction  of  conciliating  whatever  conflicting  in. 
terests  of  blood  or  government  or  historical  tradition 
may  necessarily  come  together  in  response  to  a  call 
embracins:  such  vast  and  diverse  elements. 


SECRETARY   OF  STATE.  17/ 

"You  will  present  these  views  to  the  Minister  of 
Foreign  Relations  of  Mexico,  enlarging,  if  need  be,  in 
such  terms  as  will  readily  occur  to  you,  upon  the  great 
mission  which  it  is  in  the  power  of  the  proposed  con- 
gress to  accomplish  in  the  interest  of  humanity,  and 
upon  the  firm  purpose  of  the  United  States  to  maintain 
a  position  of  the  most  absolute  and  impartial  friendship 
toward  all.  You  will  thereupon  tender  to  his  Excel- 
lency the  President  of  the  Mexican  Republic  a  formal 
invitation  to  send  two  commissioners  to  the  congress, 
provided  with  such  powers  and  instructions  on  behalf 
of  their  government  as  will  enable  them  to  consider  the 
questions  brought  before  that  body  within  the  limit  of 
submission  contemplated  by  the  invitation. 

"  The  United  States,  as  well  as  the  other  powers,  will 
in  like  manner  be  represented  by  two  commissioners, 
so  that  impartiality  and  equf  lity  will  be  amply  secured 
in  the  proceedings  of  the  cc  .gress. 

"  In  delivering  <his  invito. tion  through  the  Minister  of 
Foreign  Affairs,  you  will  read  this  dispatch  to  him,  and 
leave  with  him  a  copy,  intimating  that  an  answer  is  de- 
sired by  this  Government  as  promptly  as  the  just  consid- 
eration of  so  important  a  proposition  will  permit. 
"  I  am,  Sir,  your  obedient  servant, 

"James  G.  Blaine." 

The  fair-minded  reader  of  the  foregoing  will  hardly 
have  found  a  menace  in  it  to  the  public  peace  and  well- 
being  ;  but  Mr.  Frelinghuysen  apparently  did,  for  upon 


IjS  JAMES  G.  BLAINE. 

his  appointment  to  Mr.  Blaine's  place  in  the  Cabinet  he 
reversed  his  entire  policy  with  all  speed. 

This  remarkable  action,  opposed  to  diplomatic  usage, 
radically  lowered  the  standing  of  the  United  States  Gov- 
ernment with  the  South  American  States,  and  under  the 
laissez-faire  policy  of  Secretary  Frelinghuysen,  Chili 
made  outrageous  terms  with  her  vanquished  foe  and 
took  to  herself  so  much  territory  as  pleased  her.  It  left 
Mr.  Blaine  in  the  unfortunate  position  of  having  pro- 
posed and  entered  upon  a  course  of  action  which  was  so 
suddenly  abandoned  as  to  leave  it  without  fair  trial.  He 
w^as  judged  by  the  ragged  ends  of  his  policy. 

In  justice  to  himself  he  addressed  a  letter  to  President 
Arthur,  January  3,  1882,  vindicating  his  imperfected 
work.     It  must  be  given  here  in  full : 

*'  The  suggestion  of  a  congress  of  all  the  American  na- 
tions to  assemble  in  the  city  of  Washington  was  warmly 
approved  by  your  predecessor.  The  assassination  of 
July  2d  prevented  his  issuing  the  invitations  to  the 
American  States.  After  your  accession  to  the  Presi- 
dency, I  acquainted  you  with  the  project  and  submitted 
to  you  a  draft  for  such  an  invitation.  You  received  the 
suggestion  with  the  most  appreciative  consideration, 
and  after  carefully  considering  the  form  of  the  invita- 
tion directed  it  to  be  sent.  It  was  accordingly  dis- 
patched in  November,  to  the  independent  governments 
of  America,  North  and  South,  including  all,  from  the 
Empire  of  Brazil  to  the  smallest  republic.  In  a  commu- 
nication addressed  by  the  present  Secretary  of  State,  on 


SECRETARY   OF  STATE.  1/9 

January  9th,  to  Mr.  Trescot,  and  recently  sent  to  the  Sen- 
ate, I  was  greatly  surprised  to  find  a  proposition  look- 
ing to  the  annulment  of  these  invitations,  and  I  was  still 
more  surprised  when  I  read  the  reasons  assigned.  If  I 
correctly  apprehend  the  meaning  of  his  words  it  is  that 
we  might  offend  some  European  powers  if  we  should 
hold  in  the  United  States  a  congress  of  the  '  selected 
nationalities  '  of  America. 

''  This  is  certainly  a  new  position  for  the  United  States 
to  assume,  and  one  which  I  earnestly  beg  you  will  not 
permit  this  country  to  occupy.  The  European  powers 
assemble  in  congress  whenever  an  object  appears  to 
them  of  sufficient  importance  to  justify  it.  I  have 
never  heard  of  their  consulting  the  Government  of  the 
United  States  in  regard  to  the  propriety  of  their  so  as- 
sembling, nor  have  I  ever  known  of  their  inviting  an 
American  representative  to  be  present.  Nor  would 
there,  in  my  judgment,  be  any  good  reason  for  their  so 
doing.  Two  Presidents  of  the  United  States  in  the  year 
1881  adjudged  it  to  be  expedient  that  the  American 
powers  should  meet  in  congress,  for  the  sole  purpose  of 
agreeing  upon  some  basis  for  arbitration  of  differences 
that  may  arise  between  them,  and  for  the  prevention,  as 
far  as  possible,  of  war  in  the  future.  If  that  movement 
is  now  to  be  arrested  for  fear  that  it  may  give  offence 
in  Europe,  the  voluntary  humiliation  of  this  Govern- 
ment could  not  be  more  complete,  unless  we  should 
press  the  European  governments  for  the  privilege  of 
holding    the   congress.      I    cannot   conceive   how   the 


l80  JAMES    G.    BI.AINE, 

United  States  could  be  placed  in  a  less  enviable  position 
than  would  be  secured  by  sending  in  November  a  cor- 
dial invitation  to  all  the  American  governments  to  meet 
in  Washington  for  the  sole  purpose  of  concerting  meas- 
ures of  peace,  and  in  January  recalling  the  invitation 
for  fear  it  might  create  'jealousy  and  ill-will'  on  the 
part  of  monarchical  governments  in  Europe.  It  would 
be  difficult  to  devise  a  more  effective  mode  for  making 
enemies  of  the  American  Government,  and  it  would  cer- 
tainly not  add  to  our  prestige  in  tlie  European  world. 
Nor  can  I  see,  Mr.  President,  how  European  govern- 
ments should  feel  'jealousy  and  ill-will'  toward  the 
United  States  because  of  an  effort  on  our  own  part  to 
insure  lasting  peace  between  the  nations  of  America, 
unless,  indeed,  it  be  to  the  interest  of  European  powers 
that  American  nations  should  at  intervals  fall  into  war, 
and  bring  reproach  on  republican  government.  But 
from  that  very  circumstance  I  see  an.  additional  and 
powerful  mo'.ive  for  American  governments  to  be  at 
peace  among  themselves. 

"  The  United  States  is  indeed  at  peace  with  all  the 
world,  as  Mr.  Frelinghuysen  well  says,  but  there  are  and 
have  been  serious  troubles  between  other  American  na- 
tions. Peru,  Chili,  and  Bolivia  have  been  for  more 
than  two  years  engaged  in  a  desperate  conflict.  It  was 
the  fortunate  intervention  of  the  United  States  last 
spring  that  averted  war  between  Chili  and  the  Argen- 
tine Republic.  Guatemala  is  at  this  moment  asking  the 
United  States  to  interpose  its  good  offices  with  Mexico 


SECRETARY  OF  STATE.  l8l 

to  keep  off  war.  These  important  facts  were  all  com- 
municated in  your  last  message  to  Congress.  It  is  the 
existence  or  the  menace  of  these  wars  that  influenced 
President  Garfield— and  as  I  supposed  influenced  your- 
self— to  desire  a  friendly  conference  of  all  the  nations  of 
America  to  devise  methods  of  permanent  peace,  and 
consequent  prosperity  for  all.  Shall  the  United  States 
now  turn  back,  hold  aloof,  and  refuse  to  exert  its  great 
moral  power  for  the  advantage  of  its  weaker  neighbors? 
'*  If  you  have  not  formally  and  finally  recalled  the  in- 
vitation to  the  Peace  Congress,  Mr.  President,  I  beg  you 
to  consider  well  the  effect  of  so  doing.  The  invitation 
was  not  mine.  It  was  yours.  I  performed  only  the  part 
of  the  Secretary — to  advise  and  to  draft.  You  spoke 
in  the  name  of  the  United  States  to  each  of  the  inde- 
pendent nations  of  America.  To  revoke  that  invitation 
for  any  cause  would  be  embarrassing  ;  to  revoke  it  for 
the  avowed  fear  of  'jealousy  and  ill-will'  on  the  part 
of  European  powers  would  appeal  as  little  to  American 
pride  as  to  American  hospitality.  Those  you  have  in- 
vited may  decline,  and  having  now  cause  to  doubt  their 
welcome  will,  perhaps,  do  so.  This  would  break  up  the 
Congress,  but  it  would  not  touch  their  dignity.  Beyond 
the  philanthropic  and  Christian  ends  to  be  obtained  by 
an  American  conference  devoted  to  peace  and  good- 
will among  men,  we  might  well  hope  for  material  ad- 
vantages, as  the  result  of  a  better  understanding  and 
closer  friendship  with  the  nations  of  America.  At 
present  the  condition  of  trade  between  the  United  States 


l82  JAMES   G.    BLAINE. 

and  its  American  neighbors  is  unsatisfactory  to  us,  and 
even  deplorable.  According  to  the  official  statistics  of 
our  own  Treasury  Department,  the  balance  against  us 
in  that  trade  last  year  was  $120,000,000 — a  sum  greater 
than  the  yearly  product  of  all  the  gold  and  silver  mines 
in  the  United  States.  This  vast  balance  was  paid  by  us 
in  foreign  exchange,  and  a  very  large  proportion  of  it 
went  to  England,  where  shipments  of  cotton,  provisions, 
and  breadstuffs  supplied  the  money.  If  anything  should 
change  or  check  the  balance  in  our  favor  in  European 
trade,  our  commercial  exchanges  with  Spanish  America 
would  drain  us  of  our  reserve  of  gold  at  a  rate  exceed- 
ing $100,000,000  per  annum,  and  would  probably  pre- 
cipitate a  suspension  of  specie  payment  in  this  country. 
Such  a  result  at  home  might  be  worse  than  a  little  jeal- 
ousy and  ill-will  abroad.  I  do  not  say,  Mr.  President, 
that  the  holding  of  a  Peace  Congress  will  necessarily 
change  the  currents  of  trade,  but  it  will  bring  us  into 
kindly  relations  with  all  the  American  nations  ;  it  will 
promote  the  reign  of  law  and  peace  and  order  ;  it  will 
increase  production  and  consumption,  and  will  stimu- 
late the  demand  for  articles  which  American  manufac- 
turers can  furnish  with  profit.  It  will  at  all  events  be  a 
friendly  and  auspicious  beginning  in  the  direction  of 
American  influence  and  American  trade  in  a  large  field 
which  wc  have  hitherto  greatly  neglected,  and  which  has 
practically  been  monopolized  by  our  commercial  rivals 
in  Europe. 

''James  G.  Blaine." 


SECRETARY   OF  STATE.  1 83 

In  pursuance  of  his  pacific  policy,  Mr.  Blaine  en- 
deavored to  bring  about  peace  after  the  Chili-Peru  war, 
on  terms  which  should  not  be  overbearing  to  the  con- 
quered States.  Certain  misunderstandings,  however, 
caused  the  United  States  ministers  to  fail  in  carrying 
out  the  Secretary's  instructions,  and  special  envoys  ac- 
credited to  the  three  countries  were  despatched  upon  a 
mission  of  peace.  Before  they  reached  Chili,  Mr.  Blaine 
resigned,  and  his  successor,  in  his  hasty  overturning  of 
his  policy,  discredited  the  envoys.  They  arrived  only  to 
find  their  mission  emptied  of  all  significance,  and  they 
could  only  return,  leaving  such  impressions  of  the  con- 
stancy and  good  faith  of  the  United  States  Government 
as  they  might. 

Of  Mr.  Blaine's  administration  a  manly  and  straight- 
forward assertion  of  American  rights  was  the  distin- 
guishing characteristic.  If  that  is  a  dangerous  thing 
we  must  face  the  danger,  and  no  honest  American 
should  wish  to  shirk  it.  All  new  ideas  are  filled  with 
peril.  Burke  had  several  perilous  ideas  ;  so  did  Pitt. 
Dangerous  ideas  occurred  to  Washington  and  Lincoln 
more  frequently  than  safe  ones,  as  the  conservatives  of 
their  times  looked  at  ideas.  But  how  many  of  the  pre- 
cious facts  which  those  dangerous  ideas  bought  are  we 
willing  to  lose  ?  Senator  Harrison  spoke  for  the  truest 
Americans  when  he  said  at  a  meeting  gathered  in  Cin- 
cinnati to  ratify  the  nomination  : 

"  Some  timid  people  fear  that  Mr.  Blaine  will  involve 
the  country  in  war.     Some  over-cautious  business  men 


1 84  JAMES  G,  BLAIXE. 

affect  to  believe  that  the  even  current  of  their  money- 
getting  will  be  disturbed  by  the  aggressive  foreign 
policy  which  they  suppose  he  w^ould  inaugurate.  My 
fellow-citizens,  no  one  has  ever  accused  Mr.  Blaine  of 
being  a  fool.  He  has  some  ideas  upon  foreign  affairs 
and  I  am  glad  of  it — they  are  rare.  He  had  begun  to 
organize  them  into  a  system  when  he  laid  down  the 
portfolio  of  State.  Now,  what  sort  of  a  foreign  policy 
did  his  despatches  foreshadow  ?  One  in  which  this 
country  should  play  the  bully  ?  One  in  which  we  shall, 
without  cause,  insult  or  deny  just  rights  to  any  foreign 
government  ?  Not  at  all  ;  do  we  not  all  desire  that  we 
shall  have  a  manly  foreign  policy — one  that  shall  not 
be  characterized  by  such  timidity  as  not  to  lift  a  manly 
protest  when  any  wrong  is  done  in  any  foreign  country 
to  the  humblest  American  citizen  ?  [Applause.]  What 
was  it  Mr.  Blaine  proposed  to  do  ?  Briefly  and  chiefly, 
he  proposed  to  call  a  congress  for  consultation  as  to 
the  mutual  interests  of  the  nations  of  the  continent  ; 
a  meeting  of  our  sister  republics,  not  for  the  purpose 
of  aggression.  Far  from  it.  It  was  that  we  might  ex- 
ercise our  friendly  offices  in  the  interests  of  peace  and 
stable  government  among  these  people,  where  govern- 
ment has  been  so  unstable,  where  the  existing  regimes 
are  so  frequently  overturned  as  to  bring  prostration 
and  desolation  to  all  private  enterprises.  It  was  that 
we  might  extend  a  kindly  hand  to  these  people,  to  help 
them  on  to  a  higher  civilization,  and  that  we  might  in 
return  enjoy  some  of  thatt  great  commerce  which  Great 


SECRETARY   OF  STATE.  185 

Britain  monopolizes  to-day.  We  are  living  near  these 
people  ;  they  are  striving  to  imitate  us  in  the  experi- 
ment of  free  government,  and  yet  we  are  without  access 
or  influence.  When  a  distinguished  citizen  of  this  State 
was  by  President  James  Garfield  appointed  Charge 
d'Affaires  at  Montevideo,  in  Uruguay,  in  order  to  get 
to  his  post  of  duty  he  had  to  take  a  British  steamer 
from  New  York  to  Liverpool,  and  another  British 
steamer  from  Liverpool  to  Montevideo.  Notwithstand- 
ing we  are  here  on  the  same  general  coast,  there  was  no 
direct  communication  between  this  country  and  that. 
It  has  been  a  standing  shame  that  our  relations  to  these 
South  American  governments  have  been  such  that  nei- 
ther we  nor  they  have  enjoyed  any  of  the  benefits  of  good 
neighborhood. 

"  Mr.  Blaine  proposes  to  remedy  this  confessed  omis- 
sion in  our  foreign  policy.  A  congress  of  these  nations 
was  the  leading  feature  of  his  brief  administradon  of 
the  State  Department.  There  was  nothing  to  disturb 
business  in  that  policy,  but  much  promise  of  a  new 
market  for  our  surplus.  Nobody  wants  war — it  is  a 
last  resort.  But  every  self-respecting  American  does 
believe  in  maintaining  the  proper  dignity,  honor,  and 
influence  of  this  great  nation." 

The  ado  which  was  made  about  the  Landreau  claim, 
the  Credit  Industriel,  and  the  Shipherd  folly,  need  not 
make  part  of  this  record.  Mr.  Blaine's  connection  with 
them  was  unimportant.  In  the  case  of  Landreau,  he 
urged  a  claim  of  undoubted  justice  ;  the  others  were  in- 


1 86  JAMES  G.  BLAINE. 

cidents  growing  out  of  his  administration  which  will 
doubtless  demand  treatment  when  the  lives  of  certain 
other  persons  come  to  be  written,  but  which  are  of  no 
moment  to  a  biography  of  Mr.  Blaine. 


XVII. 
AT   GARFIELD'S   BEDSIDE. 

Mr.  Blaine's  name  is  peculiarly  associated  with  the 
memorable  crime  of  July  2,  1881.  Upon  him,  during 
the  long,  sad  weeks  of  suspense  which  followed,  the 
grieved  and  doubtful  heart  of  the  nation  reposed. 

As  the  President  and  Mr.  Blaine  drove  to  the  station 
together  the  President  was  in  an  uncommonly  joyous 
mood,  his  companion  has  said.  He  was  to  visit  his  alma 
maier,  and  was  looking  forward  to  an  agreeable  holiday, 
removed  from  the  oppressive  summer  heat  of  Washing- 
ton, and  the  renewing  of  old  college  friendships  in  the 
Berkshire  Hills.  "When  the  carriage,"  says  Mr.  Blaine, 
in  his  account  of  the  tragedy,  "stopped  in  front  of  the 
station  on  B  Street,  the  President  and  I  left  it  and  entered 
the  ladies'  waiting-room,  passing  through  it  arm  in  arm. 
As  we  went  from  it  into  the  main  room  I  dropped  the 
President's  arm  and  at  that  instant  two  shots  were  fired. 
I  saw  a  man  running  and  started  toward  him,  but  turned 
almost  immediately  and  saw  that  the  President  had  fall- 
en.    I   then  first  understood  that  the  shots  had   been 


1 88  JAMES   G.    BLAINE, 

fired  at  the  President.  I  sprang  toward  him  with  several 
others  and  raised  his  head  from  the  floor." 

As  the  President  fell  he  exclaimed,  ''My  God!" 
The  Postmaster-General,  Secretary  Windom,  and  Sec- 
retary Lincoln,  who  were  to  accompany  President  Gar- 
field, had  arrived  earlier  and  were  walking  within  the 
station.  When  they  came  hastily  in  response  to  a  sum- 
mons into  the  ladies'  waiting-room  they  found  Secre- 
tary Blaine,  who  appeared  to  be  the  only  calm  person 
about,  bending  over  the  President  and  keeping  the 
people  back.  Before  the  President  was  removed  from 
the  station  he  sent  a  touching  message  to  his  wife  at 
Long  Branch,  where  he  had  expected  to  join  her  later. 

Secretary  Blaine  communicated  to  Vice-President 
Arthur,  who  was  in  New  York,  the  news  of  the  calam- 
ity in  simple  words,  and  during  the  day  and  until  the 
Vice-President  returned  to  Washington,  kept  him  in- 
formed of  the  President's  condition  by  constant  bulle- 
tins. The  Secretary  also  made  known  the  sad  intelli- 
gence to  the  American  ministers  abroad,  and  put  them 
into  possession  from  time  to  time  of  the  physicians* 
opinions.  In  his  position  he  was  also  the  recipient  of 
the  messages  of  condolence  and  regret  sent  from  every 
part  of  the  country  and  by  the  sovereigns  of  Europe. 
It  fell  to  him  to  make  answer  as  well,  and  he  dis- 
charged this  duty  with  singular  propriety  and  good 
taste.  The  telegrams  were  models  of  manly  simplicity, 
and  the  nation,  which  hung  in  its  suspense  upon  the 
slightest  word  from  the  bedside  of  the  wounded   Pres- 


AT  GARFIELD'S  BEDSIDE.  1 89 

ident,  received  his  constant  bulletins  gratefully.  Dur- 
ing the  first  day  and  night,  with  the  other  members  of 
the  Cabinet,  he  was  not  absent  from  the  President's  bed- 
side, and  only  retired  the  next  day  for  a  time  because 
the  physicians  thought  the  presence  of  any  one  preju- 
dicial to  the  patient's  condition. 

The  Fourth  of  July  was  an  anxious  day  for  the  coun- 
try. President  Garfield  seemed  to  grow  no  better,  and 
the  physicians,  who  from  the  first  had  given  little  en- 
couragement, despaired  of  his  recovery.  Mr.  Blaine 
telegraphed  to  John  Hay  at  5  p.m.  :  "  The  condition  of 
the  President  is  alarming.  I  think  the  best  judgment  of 
the  eminent  physicians  who  were  in  consultation  is  he 
will  not  recover.  They  do  not,  however,  abandon  hope, 
and  we  all  cling  to  the  belief  that  in  the  good  prov- 
idence of  God  his  life  may  be  spared."  Later  he  is- 
sued the  following  : 

"Executive  Mansion,  Washington,  July  4th,  11  p.m. 
"  To  the  Press  : 

**On  behalf  of  the  President  and  Mrs.  Garfield  I  desire 
to  make  public  acknowledgment  of  the  very  numerous 
messages  of  condolence  and  affection  which  have  been 
received  since  Saturday  morning.  From  almost  every 
State  in  the  Union,  from  the  South  as  bountifully  as 
from  the  North,  and  from  countries  beyond  the  sea, 
have  come  messages  of  anxious  inquiry  and  tender 
words  of  sympathy  in  such  numbers  that  it  has  been 
found  impossible  to  answer  them  in  detail.  I  therefore 
ask  the  newspapers  to  express  for  the   President  and 


I90  JAMES  G.  BLAINE. 

Mrs.  Garfield  the  deep  gratitude  which  they  feel  for 
the  devotion  of  their  fellow-countrymen  and  friem^s 
abroad,  in  their  hour  of  heavy  affliction. 

**  James  G.  Blaine, 

''Secretary  of  State." 

On  the  following  day  he  was  able  to  cable  James 
Russell  Lowell,  Minister  to  England,  *'  The  President 
continues  to  improve.  At  this  hour,  4  p.m.,  his  physi- 
cians consider  his  symptoms  as  most  encouraging." 

The  President  after  this  grew  slowly  better,  and 
the  Secretary  was  in  constant  attendance  upon  him. 
Through  all  the  fluctuations  of  hope  and  fear,  he  kept 
unintermittent  watch,  recording  the  changes  in  the 
President's  condition  in  frequent  bulletins.  When  it 
was  decided  to  attempt  the  removal  to  Long  Branch,  he 
smoothed  the  way  as  much  as  possible  and  assisted  in 
planning  and  carrying  out  the  kindly  devices  for  the  pa- 
tient's easy  and  painless  transit.  On  September  6th  the 
journey  was  safely  made.  Secretary  Blaine's  telegram 
to  Minister  Lowell  upon  the  arrival  of  the  President  at 
Long  Branch  concluded  :  "  His  fever  is  in  part  attrib- 
uted to  the  excitement  he  felt  at  the  prospect  of  coming. 
He  earnestly  desired  to  leave  the  White  House,  and  his 
weary  eyes  welcomed  the  sight  of  the  sea.  The  devel- 
opments of  the  next  sixty  hours  are  awaited  with  solici- 
tude." The  President  did  not  immediately  grow  worse, 
but  the  weather  was  very  warm  and  he  suffered  from  it. 
On  the  9th,  however,  Mr.   Blaine  was  able  to  say  that 


AT  GARFIELD'S  BEDSIDE.  IQI 

"  his  comfort  had  been  promoted  by  a  decided  change 
in  the  weather."  But  on  the  12th  he  telegraphed  :  "  His 
symptoms  are  not  reassuring,  and  his  general  condition 
gives  rise  to  anxiety."  During  the  next  day,  however, 
there  was  a  change  for  the  better,  and  Mr.  Blaine  was 
so  much  encouraged  that  he  felt  warranted  in  leaving 
the  President  for  a  day  or  two  to  attend  to  important 
personal  business  in  Augusta.  '*  During  my  absence 
for  a  short  time,"  he  cabled  Minister  Lowell,  "  Dr.  Ag- 
new  or  Dr.  Hamilton  will  send  you  a  daily  report." 
It  was  instead  sent  by  Secretary  MacVeagh. 

For  several  days  after  Mr.  Blaine's  departure  there 
was  little  change  in  the  President's  condition,  and  he 
seemed  to  be  gradually  gaining  ground,  but  on  the  i6th 
anxiety  was  again  excited.  On  the  17th  he  had  a  slight 
chill,  lasting  half  an  hour.  Another  chill  on  the  following 
day  increased  the  general  concern,  and  September  19th, 
at  half  past  ten  in  the  evening,  he  suddenly  and  unex- 
pectedly passed  away. 

Secretary  Blaine,  being  informed  of  the  sad  fact,  made 
haste  toward  Elberon,  reaching  it  on  the  following  day. 
The  Cabinet  agreed  upon  the  arrangements  for  the 
funeral,  which  were  made  public  in  detail  by  the  Secre- 
tary of  State, 

All  the  members  of  the  Cabinet  went  with  the  body 
to  Washington,  where  for  a  time  it  lay  in  state,  and  ac- 
companied it  to  Lakewood  Cemetery,  Cleveland,  where 
it  was  finally  deposited.  When  Congress  met  after  the 
President's  death  it  cast  about  for  a  fit  man  to  deliver 


192  JAMES  G.  BLAINE. 

a  eulogy  of  General  Garfield,  and  its  choice  naturally 
fell  to  Mr.  Blaine.  It  has  been  called  one  of  the  noblest 
performances  of  his  life,  and  certainly  he  never  spoke  to 
so  lofty  and  inspiring  a  theme.  The  orator  was  fortunate- 
ly selected.  He  had  known  General  Garfield  for  many 
years,  he  was  familiar  with  his  public  and  private  life,  in 
his  administration  he  had  been  at  the  head,  and  in  the 
public  acts  of  the  President  his  next  friend  and  adviser. 
During  his  illness  he  had  watched  over  him  with  an  as- 
siduity that  outwent  mere  official  duty.  He  was  filled 
with  love  and  admiration  for  him,  even  above  those  who 
from  every  corner  of  the  country  were  present  in  spirit 
at  the  solemn  memorial  services  in  which  the  nation  ex- 
pressed its  grief.  He  spoke  for  their  sorrowing  hearts, 
and  in  that  hour  was  nearer  to  them  than  any  save  the 
leader  they  had  lost.  It  was  indeed  the  highest  moment 
of  Mr.  Blaine's  life  ;  and  if  he  had  done  nothing  else,  if 
he  had  not  been  the  faithful  supporter  of  the  wounded 
President  during  his  illness — if  he  had  come  into  the 
world  and  gone  from  it  leaving  nothing  but  the  record 
of  those  few  adequate  words  in  praise  of  his  friend, 
he  could  never  cease  to  be  a  dear  and  memorable  figure 
to  Americans. 

"At  ten  o'clock  on  Monday,  February  27,  1882,  the 
doors  of  the  House  of  Representatives  were  opened  to 
holders  of  tickets  for  the  memorial  services,  and  in  less 
than  half  an  hour  the  galleries  were  filled.  The  spec- 
tators, many  of  whom  were  ladies,  were  generally  attired 
in  black.     No  mourning  was  displayed  in  the  hall,  even 


AT  GARFIELD'S  BEDSIDE.  193 

the  full-length  portrait  of  the  late  President  being 
undraped.  The  three  front  rows  of  desks  had  been 
replaced  by  chairs  for  the  use  of  the  invited  guests, 
and  the  Marine  Band  was  stationed  in  the  lobby,  back 
of  the  Speaker's  desk. 

"  Among  the  first  to  arrive  were  George  Bancroft, 
W.  W.  Corcoran,  Cyrus  W.  Field,  and  Admiral  Worden, 
who  took  seats  directly  in  front  of  the  Clerk's  desk. 
General  Schenck,  Governor  Hoyt,  of  Pennsylvania, 
Foster,  of  Ohio,  Porter,  of  Indiana,  Hamilton,  of  Mary- 
land, and  Bigelow,  of  Connecticut,  and  Adjutant- 
General  Hawley,  of  Connecticut,  and  many  others  oc- 
cupied seats  on  the  floor.  At  I  r. 30  Generals  Sherman, 
Sheridan,  Hancock,  Howard,  and  Meigs,  and  Admirals 
Ammen  and  Rodgers  entered  at  the  north  door  of  the 
chamber  and  were  assigned  seats  to  the  left  of  the 
Speaker's  desk,  and  a  few  moments  later  the  members 
of  the  diplomatic  corps,  in  full  regalia,  were  ushered 
in,  headed  by  the  Hawaiian  Minister  as  dean  of  the 
corps.  The  Supreme  Court  of  the  District,  headed  by 
Marshal  Henry,  arrived  next.  Mrs.  Blaine  occupied  a 
front  seat  in  the  gallery  reserved  for  friends  of  the 
President.  At  twelve  o'clock  the  House  was  called  to 
order  by  Speaker  Keifer,  and  prayer  was  offered  by  the 
chaplain.  The  Speaker  then  announced  that  the 
House  was  assembled  and  ready  to  perform  its  part  in 
the  memorial  services,  and  the  resolutions  to  that  effect 
were  read  by  Clerk  McPherson.  At  12.10  the  Senate 
was  announced,  and  that  body,  headed  by  its  officers, 
»3 


194  JAMES  G.  BLAINE. 

entered  and  took  seats.  The  Chief  Justice  and  As- 
sociate Justices  of  the  Supreme  Court,  in  their  robes 
of  office,  came  next,  and  were  followed  by  President 
Arthur  and  his  Cabinet.  The  President  took  the  front 
seat  on  the  right  of  the  presiding  officer's  chair,  next 
to  that  occupied  by  Cyrus  W.  Field." 

Senator  Sherman  and  Representative  McKinley  (Ohio) 
occupied  seats  at  the  desk  on  the  right  and  left  of  the 
orator  of  the  day.  Members  of  the  Society  of  thfe  Army 
of  the  Cumberland  acted  as  ushers  at  the  main  entrance 
to  the  Rotunda  and  in  the  various  corridors  leading  to 
the  galleries. 

At  12.30  the  orator  of  the  day  was  announced,  and 
after  a  short  prayer  by  the  Chaplain  of  the  House,  F. 
F.  Power,  President  Davis  said:  '*  This  day  is  dedicated 
by  Congress  for  memorial  services  of  the  late  President 
of  the  United  States,  James  A.  Garfield.  I  present  to 
you  the  Hon.  James  G.  Blaine,  who  has  been  fitly  cho- 
sen as  the  orator  for  this  historical  occasion." 

Mr.  Blaine  then  rose,  and  standing  at  the  clerk's  desk, 
immediately  in  front  of  the  two  presiding  officers,  de- 
livered his  eulogy  from  manuscript. 

He  was  the  central  figure  in  one  of  the  most  striking 
scenes  which  has  been  observed  in  the  halls  of  Con- 
gress since  its  first  session.  The  President  and  his 
Cabinet,  the  judges  in  their  robes,  the  distinguished 
guests,  the  diplomatic  corps  attired  in  their  varied  dress, 
offered  a  spectacle  as  brilliant  as  one  is  likely  to  see 
in  a  republic.      The  admirable  eulogy  it  is  impossible, 


AT  GARFIELD'S  BEDSIDE.  1 95 

within  the  brief  space  of  this  vohime,  to  give  at  length, 
and  such  selections  from  it  as  follow  are  chosen  as 
much  for  their  bearing  upon  the  speaker  as  his 
subject.  After  discussing  Garfield's  ancestry,  his  early- 
days,  his  army  career,  and  his  long  and  loyal  service 
in  Congress,  he  spoke  of  his  industry  ;  and  his  words 
upon  this  trait  of  General  Garfield  must  engage  us. 
He  said  : 

**  Those  unfamiliar  with  Garfield's  industry  and  ig- 
norant of  the  details  of  his  work  may,  in  some  degree, 
measure  them  by  the  annals  of  Congress.  No  one  of 
the  generation  of  public  men  to  which  he  belonged  has 
contributed  so  much  that  will  be  valuable  for  future  ref- 
erence. His  speeches  are  numerous,  many  of  them  brill- 
iant, all  of  them  well  studied,  carefully  phrased  and  ex- 
haustive of  the  subject  under  consideration.  Collected 
from  the  scattered  pages  of  ninety  royal  octavo  volumes 
of  the  Congressional  Record  they  would  present  an  inval- 
uable compendium  of  the  political  history  of  the  most 
important  era  through  which  the  National  Government 
has  ever  passed.  When  the  history  of  this  period  shall 
be  impartially  written,  when  war  legislation,  measures  of 
reconstruction,  protection  of  human  rights,  amendments 
to  the  Constitution,  maintenance  of  the  public  credit, 
steps  toward  specie  resumption,  true  theories  of  revenue 
may  be  reviewed,  unsurrounded  by  prejudice  and  dis- 
connected from  partisanism,  the  speeches  of  Garfield 
will  be  estimated  at  their  true  value,  and  will  be  found 
to  comprise  a  vast  magazine  of  fact  and  argument,  of 


196  JAMES  G.  BLAINE. 

clear  analysis  and  sound  conclusion.  Indeed,  if  no 
other  authority  were  accessible,  his  speeches  in  the 
House  of  Representatives  from  December,  1863,  to  June, 
1880,  would  give  a  well-connected  history  and  complete 
defence  of  the  important  legislation  of  the  seventeen 
eventful  years  that  constitute  his  parliamentary  life. 
Far  beyond  that,  his  speeches  would  be  found  to  forecast 
many  great  measures,  yet  to  be  completed — measures 
which  he  knew  were  beyond  the  public  opinion  of  the 
hour,  but  which  he  confidently  believed  would  secure 
popular  approval  within  the  period  of  his  own  lifetime, 
and  by  the  aid  of  his  own  efforts." 

The  words  which  follow  have  a  touch  of  unconscious 
prophecy  which  need  not  to  be  urged  : 

"As  a  candidate,  Garfield  steadily  grew  in  popular 
favor.  He  was  met  with  a  storm  of  detraction  at  the 
very  hour  of  his  nomination,  and  it  continued  with  in- 
creasing volume  and  momentum  until  the  close  of  his 
victorious  campaign  : 

No  might  nor  greatness  in  mortality 
Can  censure  'scape.     Back- wounding  calumny 
The  whitest  virtue  strikes.     What  king  so  strong 
Can  tie  the  gall  up  in  a  slanderous  tongue  ? 

Under  it  all  he  was  calm,  and  strong,  and  confident  ; 
never  lost  his  self-possession,  did  no  unwise  act,  spoke 
no  hasty  or  ill-considered  word.  Indeed  nothing  in  his 
whole  life  is  more  remarkable  or  more  creditable  than 
his  bearing  through  those  five  full  months  of  vitupera- 


AT  GARFIELD'S  BEDSIDE.  1 97 

tions — a  prolonged  agony  of  trial  to  a  sensitive  man,  a 
constant  and  cruel  draft  upon  the  powers  of  moral  en- 
durance. The  great  mass  of  these  unjust  imputations 
passed  unnoticed,  and,  with  the  general  debris  of  the 
campaign,  fell  into  oblivion.  But  in  a  few  instances  the 
iron  entered  his  soul,  and  he  died  with  the  injury  un- 
forgotten  if  not  unforgiven." 

The  eulogy  occupied  an  hour  and  a  half.  As  Mr. 
Blaine  uttered  the  last  solemn  words  picturing  the  death 
of  the  martyred  President,  "  Let  us  believe  that  in  the 
silence  of  the  receding  world  he  heard  the  great  waves 
breaking  on  a  further  shore  and  felt  already  upon  his 
wasted  brow  the  breath  of  the  eternal  morning,"  his 
hearers  broke  into  a  storm  of  applause  which  was  not 
stilled  for  some  moments.  The  address  had  been  lis- 
tened to  with  the  most  eager  interest  and  in  awed  si- 
lence. 


XVIII. 

"TWENTY   YEARS    OF    CONGRESS." 

When  Mr.  Blaine  laid  down  the  portfolio  of  the  Secre- 
tary of  State,  some  curiosity  was  felt  as  to  what  he  would 
do.  For  over  twenty-three  years  he  had  been  in  public  life, 
and  it  was  thought  that,  for  a  time  at  least,  vacancy  and 
idleness  must  overtake  him.  But  Mr.  Blaine  welcomed 
this  period  of  leisure  as  an  opportunity  for  carrying  out  a 
plan  long  cherished  in  a  mild  way.  Continuing  to  live 
in  Washington,  he  began  at  once  the  composition  of  a 
work  which  he  has  called  ''Twenty  Years  of  Congress." 
He  devoted  himself  assiduously  to  waiting,  and  w^as  able, 
after  little  more  than  two  years'  labor,  to  present  to  the 
public  in  April  last  a  thick  volume  as  an  earnest  of  his 
intention. 

When  complete  it  is  to  be  a  history  of  the  political 
life  of  the  American  people  for  the  years  included  be- 
tween the  administrations  of  Lincoln  and  Garfield — 
the  first  ten  of  which  certainly  offer  a  richer  field  to 
the  American  historian  than  any  other  decade  save  that 
of  the  Revolution.     But,  strictly,  Mr.  Blaine's  work,  per- 


''TWENTY    YEARS    OF   CONGRESS:'  199 

haps,  should  not  be  called  a  history  ;  that  is  an  ambi- 
tious title,  and  may  be  held  to  imply  a  little  greater  dis- 
tance from  the  subject  than  the  writer  of  "Twenty  Years 
of  Congress"  is  at.  Yet  it  is  not  a  volume  of  mere  rem- 
iniscence. It  is  a  large  and  stirring  record  of  events 
with  which  he  was  actively  contemporary,  and  it  is  es- 
pecially interesting  to  read  of  them  in  the  pages  of  one 
who  assisted  in  bringing  them  about.  The  sense  of  this 
the  peruser  of  the  first  instalment  of  "  Twenty  Years  of 
Congress"  is  glad  to  find  always  present  to  him,  and 
this  is  because  Mr.  Blaine  is  clearly  liimself  haunted  by 
the  pars  fuit.  This  gives  the  book  a  peculiar  value,  if  it 
deprives  it  of  a  certain  judicial  tone.  That  is  something 
only  to  be  cultivated  successfully  centuries  after  the  fact ; 
but  on  the  side  of  vividness,  of  complete  apprehension, 
the  book  is  in  the  highest  degree  satisfying,  and  leaves 
the  reader  much  obliged  to  it  for  not  being  history,  since 
it  brings  him  so  much  nearer  the  event.  On  the  other 
hand,  it  is  not  unpleasantly  partisan,  and  often  rather 
astonishes  one,  as  in  the  matter  of  the  presentation  of 
the  tariff  question,  by  its  fairness. 

The  story  of  the  war  for  the  Union  will  always  be  a 
difficult  one  to  tell  fairly,  and  no  one  in  our  time — cer- 
tainly no  one  who  was  an  actor  in  it — writing  to  those 
who  fought  it,  or  waited  at  home  for  those  who  did,  is 
likely  to  tell  it  with  complete  justice.  But  curiously 
enough  one  is  glad  of  the  lack  of  this.  We  are  not  far 
enough  from  the  war  yet  to  read  patiently  any  account 
which  does  not  espouse  one  of  the  sides,  and  no  reader 


200  JAMES    G.    BLAINE. 

of  Mr.  Blaine's  "Twenty  Years  of  Congress"  would 
have  him  less  of  a  loyalist  if  he  could.  It  is  the  story 
of  those  dark  four  years  which  is  related  in  this  first 
volume — brought  down  only  to  the  close  of  the  con- 
flict— and  in  reading  the  graphic  pages  describing  them 
it  is  impossible  not  to  be  freshly  impressed  with  the  tre- 
mendous bearing  of  the  facts  touched  upon.  The  book 
is  particularly  full  in  its  relation  of  the  events  which 
brought  about  the  war.  Tliey  are  set  compactly  before 
the  reader,  and  make  such  a  distinct  and  comprehensi- 
ble record  in  Mr.  Blaine's  presentation  as  we  can  fancy 
the  children  of  to-day  congratulating  themselves  upon 
when  their  time  comes  to  understand  the  momentous 
forces  which  tore  the  country  in  the  years  directly  pre- 
ceding i860.  The  events  which  make  up  Mr.  Blaine's 
striking  narrative  are  skilfully  marshalled  and  arranged, 
and  the  effect  is  one  of  singular  directness  and  lucidity. 
The  style  of  the  work  is  perhaps  rather  more  terse 
and  contained  than  would  be  expected  from  one  who 
has  been  forced  to  cultivate  the  fluency  of  extemporane- 
ous public  speech,  and  though  it  w^ould  still  be  no  worse 
for  a  little  castigation,  it  is  in  the  main  an  admirable 
style  for  the  purpose.  Mr.  Blaine  is  served  by  the  val- 
uable early  training  of  newspaper  work,  which  teaches 
a  writer  many  things,  but  chiefly  instructs  him  in  a  wise 
solicitude  for  his  readers'  patience.  The  habit  of  con- 
cise and  direct  statement  learned  in  that  excellent  school 
gives  Mr.  Blaine  the  inestimably  precious  sense  of  what 
may  be  called  the  time  to  stop,  which  there  be  eminent 


''TWENTY   YEARS   OF    CONGRESS:'  201 

men  who  lack.  He  makes  his  point  squarely  and  enr 
forces  it  fully,  but  he  does  not  enforce  it  too  far  ;  the 
finger  is  laid  upon  the  spring  with  a  firm  touch,  is  held 
a  moment,  and  at  the  delicate  instant,  which  is  neither 
too  soon  nor  too  late,  is  withdrawn.  This  modest  quality 
of  style,  which  is  neither  brilliant  nor  engaging,  and 
takes  no  eye  because  the  essence  of  its  being  is  retire- 
ment, makes,  above  all  its  imposing  sister  qualities,  easy 
reading.  And  this  is  the  praise  which  comes  most 
readily  to  one's  pen  in  writing  of  Mr.  Blaine's  book. 
An  amiable  critic  finds  it  as  pleasant  reading  as  a  novel, 
but  that  is  a  doubtful  expression  of  the  fact  unless  we 
add,  a  good  novel.  The  style  of  the  volume  is,  however, 
something  more  than  easy  to  read.  It  can  be  stately 
upon  occasion.  But  the  occasions  are  sparingly  chosen, 
and  in  the  midst  of  its  fluency  it  seldom  fails  of  a  kind 
of  dignity. 

It  is  in  Chapters  I.  to  VIII.  that  the  causes  which  led 
to  the  Civil  War  are  treated,  and  this  is  one  of  the  most 
valuable  parts  of  the  volume.  Chapter  IX.  gives  the  his- 
tory of  the  tariff  in  this  country  from  the  earliest  years, 
and  copious  quotation  has  been  already  made  from  it. 
Chapter  X.,  opening  with  the  election  of  i860,  gives  a 
brief  summary  of  the  events  which  followed.  Chapters 
XVIII.  and  XIX.  present  an  admirable  sketch  of  the 
financial  acts  made  necessary  by  the  war,  especially  the 
issue  of  paper  money  and  the  laying  of  taxes.  The  Uni- 
ted States  banks  and  the  State  banks  of  the  time  pre- 
ceding the  war  are  treated,  and  the  story  of  the  creation 


202  JAMES  G.  BLAINE. 

of  the  National  Banking  system  is  fully  told.  A  chap- 
ter is  devoted  to  the  admission  of  West  Virginia,  and 
the  final  chapter  contains  an  adequate  statement  of  the 
relations  of  foreign  governments  to  the  United  States 
during  the  war. 

In  the  course  of  the  volume,  Mr.  Blaine  has  often  to 
present  pictures  of  men  prominent  in  national  politics 
within  comparatively  recent  years.  From  certain  of 
his  estimates  there  must  be  many  dissenters,  but  on  the 
whole,  they  are  conceived  in  a  fairly  impartial  spirit, 
and  are  in  the  best  taste.  These  few  sentences  upon 
Lincoln  will  be  thought  just  : 

**  Mr.  Lincoln  united  firmness  and  gentleness  in  a 
singular  degree.  He  rarely  spoke  a  harsh  word.  Ready 
to  hear  argument  and  always  open  to  conviction,  he  ad- 
hered tenaciously  to  the  conclusions  which  he  had 
finally  reached.  Altogether  modest,  he  had  confidence 
in  himself,  trusted  to  the  reasoning  of  his  own  mind, 
believed  in  the  correctness  of  his  own  judgment.  Many 
of  the  popular  conceptions  concerning  him  are  errone- 
ous. No  man  was  further  than  he  from  the  easy,  famil- 
iar, jocose  character  in  which  he  is  often  painted.  While 
he  paid  little  attention  to  form  or  ceremony,  he  was  not 
a  man  with  whom  liberties  could  be  taken.  There  was 
but  one  person  in  Illinois  outside  of  his  own  household 
who  ventured  to  address  him  by  his  first  name.  There 
was  no  one  in  Washington  who  ever  attempted  it.  Ap- 
preciating wit  and  humor,  he  relished  a  good  story,  es- 
pecially if  it  illustrated  a  truth  or  strengthened  an  argU' 


''TWENTY    YEARS    OF   CONGRESS:'  203 

ment,  and  he  had  a  vast  fund  of  illustrative  anecdote 
which  he  used  with  the  happiest  eJffect.  But  the  long 
list  of  vulgar,  salacious  stories  attributed  to  him  were 
retailed  only  by  those  who  never  enjoyed  the  privilege 
of  exchanging  a  word  with  him.  His  life  was  altogether 
a  serious  one — inspired  by  the  noblest  spirit,  devoted  to 
the  highest  aims.  Humor  was  but  an  incident  with  him, 
a  partial  relief  to  the  melancholy  which  tinged  all  his 
years. 

"He  presented  an  extraordinary  combination  of  men- 
tal and  moral  qualities.  As  a  statesman  he  had  the  lof- 
tiest ideal,  and  it  fell  to  his  lot  to  inaugurate  measures 
which  changed  the  fate  of  millions  of  living  men,  of 
tens  of  millions  yet  to  be  born.  As  a  manager  of  polit- 
ical issues,  and  master  of  the  art  of  presenting  them,  he 
has  had  no  rival  in  this  country  unless  one  be  found 
in  Jefferson.  The  complete  discomfiture  of  his  most 
formidable  assailants  in  1863,  especially  of  those  who 
sought  to  prejudice  him  before  the  people  on  account  of 
the  arrest  of  Vallandigham,  cannot  easily  be  paralleled 
for  shrewdness  of  treatment  and  for  keen  appreciation 
of  the  reactionary  influences  which  are  certain  to  con- 
trol public  opinion.  Mr.  Van  Buren  stands  without 
rival  in  the  use  of  partisan  tactics.  He  operated  alto- 
gether on  men,  and  believed  in  self-interest  as  the  main 
spring  of  human  action.  Mr.  Lincoln's  ability  was  of  a 
far  higher  and  broader  character.  There  was  never  the 
slightest  lack  of  candor  or  fairness  in  his  methods.  He 
sought  to  control  men  through  their  reason  and  their 


204  JAMES   G.  BLAINE. 

conscience.  The  only  art  he  employed  was  that  of  pre- 
senting his  views  so  convincingly  as  to  force  conviction 
on  the  minds  of  his  hearer  and  his  readers.     .     .     ." 

The  volume  has  been  extremely  well  received,  both 
in  the  United  States  and  in  England,  and  the  publica- 
tion of  its  successor,  upon  which  Mr.  Blaine  is  reported 
to  be  now  engaged,  will  be  looked  forward  to  with 
interest. 


XIX. 

THE   NOMINATION. 

The  story  of  the  convention  of  1884  is  fresh  in  all 
minds  ;  but  for  the  completeness  of  this  history  it  is 
proper  to  set  it  briefly  down  here.     The  calumny  which 

had  assailed  Mr.  Blaine  before  the  meeting  of  the  con- 

9 
ventions  of  1876  and  1880,  was  not  wantmg  as  a  pre- 
cursor of  this  ;  but  it  had  become  rather  stale,  and  was 
taken  up  spiritlessly  by  all  but  one  or  two  newspapers. 
He  had  twice  nearly  attained  the  nomination  in  spite  of 
it ;  this  time  he  was  nominated  in  spite  of  it.  The  best 
answer  that  could  be  given  to  it,  save  one,  was  given 
when  541  Republicans,  chosen  as  representatives  of 
their  party,  pronounced  for  him  as  the  party  standard- 
bearer.  No  answer  but  his  election  could  be  more 
complete. 

The  usual  time  was  consumed  in  organizing  the  con- 
vention, although  there  wxre  no  such  differences  to  ad- 
just as  in  1880.  The  Mahone  delegates  were  admitted 
from  Virginia,  and  Powell  Clayton,  the  Blaine  nominee 
for  temporary  chairman,  was  defeated  by  the  combina- 
tion of  the  supporters  of  the  President  and  Senator  Ed- 


206  JAMES   G.    BLAINE. 

munds.  A  colored  man  from  Mississippi,  named  Lynch, 
was  seated  through  their  efforts.  The  permanent  chair- 
man reported  by  the  committee  was  General  John  B. 
Henderson. 

The  nominating  speeches  were  made  on  Friday,  June 
5th.  Augustus  Brandagee,  of  Connecticut,  nominated 
General  Hawley ;  Senator  Cullom,  of  Illinois,  named 
General  Logan ;  Martin  I.  Townsend,  of  New  York, 
Arthur ;  Judge  Foraker,  of  Ohio,  Senator  Sherman  :  and 
ex-Governor  Long,  of  Massachusetts,  the  name  of  Sena- 
tor Edmunds.  The  speech  in  which  Judge  West,  of 
Ohio,  nominated  Mr.  Blaine  was  a  most  fortunate  and 
brilliant  presentation  of  the  history  and  character  of  the 
man  who  became  the  nominee  of  the  convention. 

''When  'Maine 'was  spoken  by  the  deep-voiced  secre- 
tary," says  a  newspaper  account,  "there  was  a  sudden 
explosion,  and  in  a  twinkling  the  convention  was  a  scene 
of  the  wildest  enthusiasm  and  excitement.  Whole  dele- 
gations mounted  their  chairs  and  led  the  cheering,  which 
instantly  spread  to  the  stage  and  galleries  and  deepened 
into  a  roar  fully  as  deep  and  deafening  as  the  voice  of 
Niagara.  The  scene  was  indescribable.  The  air  quiv- 
ered, the  gas  lights  trembled,  and  the  walls  fairly  shook  ; 
the  flags  were  stripped  from  the  gallery  and  stage  and 
frantically  waved,  while  hats,  umbrellas,  handkerchiefs, 
and  other  personal  belongings  were  tossed  to  and  fro 
like  bubbles  over  the  great  dancing  sea  of  human  heads. 
For  a  quarter  of  an  hour  the  tumult  lasted,  and  it  only 
ceased  when  people  had  exhausted  themselves." 


THE   NOMINATION.  20/ 

As  Judge  West  stepped  to  the  front  of  the  platform, 
says  the  same  record,  the  sensation  was  intense,  and  the 
interest  in  Mr.  West  on  account  of  his  commanding 
presence,  and  sympathy  for  his  infirmity — he  is  blind — 
brought  all  to  silence  throughout  the  vast  hall.  Judge 
West  said  : 

*'  As  a  delegate  in  the  Chicago  Convention  of  i860,  the 
proudest  service  of  my  life  was  performed  by  voting  for 
the  nomination  of  that  inspired  emancipator,  the  first 
Republican  President  of  the  United  States.  [Applause.] 
Four  and  twenty  years  of  the  grandest  history  of  record- 
ed times  has  distinguished  the  ascendency  of  the  Repub- 
lican party.  The  skies  have  lowered  and  reverses  have 
threatened,  but  our  flag  is  still  there,  waving  above  the 
mansion  of  the  Presidency,  not  a  stain  on  its  folds,  not 
a  cloud  on  its  glory.  Whether  it  shall  maintain  that 
grand  ascendency  depends  upon  the  action  of  this  coun- 
cil. With  bated  breath  a  nation  awaits  the  result.  On 
it  are  fixed  the  eyes  of  twenty  millions  of  Republican 
freemen  in  the  North.  On  it,  or  to  it,  rather,  are 
stretched  forth  the  imploring  hands  of  ten  millions  of 
political  bondmen  of  the  South  [applause],  while  above, 
from  the  portals  of  light,  is  looking  down  the  immortal 
spirit  of  the  immortal  martyr  who  first  bore  it  to  victory, 
bidding  to  us  Hail  and  God-speed.  [Applause.]  Six 
times  in  six  campaigns  has  that  banner  triumphed — 
that  symbol  of  union,  freedom,  humanity,  and  progress 
— some  time  borne  by  that  silent  man  of  destiny,  the 
Wellington  of  American  arms  [wild  applause],  last  by 


208  JAMES   G.    BLAIXE. 

him  at  whose  untimely  taking  off  a  nation  swelled  the 
funeral  cries  and  wept  above  great  Garfield's  grave. 
[Cheers  and  applause.]  Shall  that  banner  triumph 
again  ? 

*'  Commit  it  to  the  bearing  of  that  chief  [a  voice,  *  James 
G.  Blaine,  of  Maine  ' — cheers] — commit  it  to  the  bear- 
ing of  that  chief,  the  inspiration  of  whose  illustrious  char- 
acter and  great  name  will  fire  the  hearts  of  our  young 
men,  stir  the  blood  of  our  manhood,  and  rekindle  the  fer- 
vor of  the  veterans,  and  the  closing  of  the  seventh  cam- 
paign will  see  that  holy  ensign  spanning  the  sky  like  a 
bow  of  promise.  [Cheers.]  Political  conditions  are 
changed  since  the  accession  of  the  Republican  party  to 
power.  The  mighty  issues  of  freedom  and  bleeding  hu- 
manity which  convulsed  the  continent  and  aroused  the 
Republic,  rallied,  united,  and  inspired  the  forces  of  pa- 
triotism and  the  forces  of  humanity  in  one  consolidated 
phalanx,  have  ceased  their  contentions.  The  subordinate 
issues  resulting  therefrom  are  settled  and  buried  away 
with  the  dead  issues  of  the  past.  The  arms  of  the  Solid 
South  are  against  us.  Not  an  electoral  gain  can  be  expect- 
ed from  that  section.  If  triumph  come,  the  Republican 
States  of  the  North  must  furnish  the  conquering  bat- 
talions from  the  farm,  the  anvil,  and  the  loom,  from  the 
mines,  the  workshop,  and  the  desk,  from  the  hut  of  the 
trapper  on  the  snowy  Sierras,  from  the  hut  of  the  fisher- 
man on  the  banks  of  the  Hudson,  The  Republican 
States  must  furnish  these  conquering  battalions  if  tri- 
umph come. 


THE  NOMINATION'.  20g 

"  Does  not  sound  political  wisdom  dictate  and  demand 
that  a  leader  shall  be  given  to  them  whom  our  peo- 
ple will  follow,  not  as  conscripts  advancing  by  funereal 
marches  to  certain  defeat,  but  a  grand  civic  hero,  whom 
the  souls  of  the  people  desire,  and  whom  they  will  fol- 
low with  all  the  enthusiasm  of  volunteers,  as  they  sweep 
on  and  onward  to  certain  victory.  [Cheers.]  A  repre- 
sentative of  American  manhood  [applause],  a  represent- 
ative of  that  living  Republicanism  that  demands  the 
amplest  industrial  protection  and  opportunity  whereby 
labor  shall  be  enabled  to  earn  and  eat  the  bread  of  in- 
dependent employment,  relieved  of  mendicant  compe- 
tition with  pauper  Europe  or  pagan  China  ?  [Loud 
applause.]  In  this  contention  of  forces,  to  whose  can- 
didate shall  be  entrusted  our  battle-flag?  Citizens,  I 
am  not  here  to  do  it,  and  may  my  tongue  cleave  to  the 
roof  of  my  mouth  if  I  do  abate  one  tittle  from  the  just 
fame,  integrity,  and  public  honor  of  Chester  A.  Arthur, 
our  President.  [Applause.]  I  abate  not  one  tittle  from 
the  just  fame  and  public  integrity  of  George  F.  Ed- 
munds [applause],  of  Joseph  R.  Hawley  [applause],  of 
John  Sherman  [applause],  of  that  grand  old  black 
eagle  of  Illinois.  [Here  the  speaker  was  interrupted 
several  moments  by  prolonged  applause.]  And  I  am 
proud  to  know  that  these  distinguished  Senators  whom 
I  have  named  have  borne  like  testimony  to  the  public 
life,  the  public  character,  and  the  public  integrity  of 
him  whose  confirmation  brought  him  to  the  highest 
office — second  in  dignity  to  the  office  of  the  President 
14 


210  JAMES   G.    BLAINE. 

only  himself — the  first  premiership  in  the  administra- 
tion of  James  A.  Garfield.  [Applause.]  A  man  for 
whom  the  Senators  and  rivals  will  vote,  the  Secretary 
of  State  of  the  United  States  is  good  enough  for  a  plain 
flesh  and  blood  God's  people  to  vote  for  for  President. 
[Loud  applause.] 

"  Who  shall  be  our  candidate  ?  Not  the  representa- 
tive of  a  particular  interest  of  a  particular  class.  Send 
the  great  proclamation  to  the  country  labelled  'The 
Doctor's  Candidate/  'The  Lawyer's  Candidate,'  'The 
Wall  Street  Candidate,'  and  the  hand  of  resurrection 
would  not  fathom  his  November  grave.     [Applause.] 

"Gentlemen,  he  must  be  a  representative  of  that  Re- 
publicanism that  demands  the  absolute  political,  as 
well  as  personal,  emancipation  and  enfranchisement  of 
mankind — a  representative  of  that  Republicanism  which 
recognizes  the  stamp  of  American  citizenship  as  the 
passport  to  every  right,  privilege,  and  consideration  at 
home  or  abroad,  w^iether  under  the  sky  of  Bismarck, 
under  the  Palmetto,  under  the  Pelican,  or  on  the  banks 
of  the  Mohaw^k  —that  Republicanism  that  regards  with 
dissatisfaction  a  despotism  which,  under  the  '  sic  semper 
tyrannis  '  of  the  Old  Dominion,  emulates,  by  slaughter, 
popular  majorities  in  the  name  of  Democracy — a  Re- 
publicanism as  embodied  and  stated  in  the  platform  of 
principles  this  day  adopted  by  your  convention. 

"  Gentlemen,  such  a  representative  Republican  is 
James  G.  Blaine,  of  Maine.  [Applause,  continuing 
twenty  minutes.]     If  nominated  to-night  his  campaign 


THE   nomination:  211 

would  commence  to-morrow  and  continue  until  victory- 
is  assured.  [Cheers.]  There  would  be  no  powder  burned 
to  fire  into  the  backs  of  his  leaders.  It  would  only  be 
exploded  to  illuminate  the  inauguration.  The  brazen 
throats  of  the  cannon  in  yonder  square,  waiting  to 
herald  the  result  of  the  convention,  would  not  have 
time  to  cool  before  his  name  would  be  caught  up  on 
ten  thousand  tongues  of  electric  flame.  It  would  sweep 
down  from  the  old  Pine  Tree  State.  It  would  go  over 
the  hills  and  valleys  of  New  England. 

"  Three  millions  of  Republicans  believe  that  that  man 
who,  from  the  baptism  of  blood  on  the  plains  of  Kansas 
to  the  fall  of  the  immortal  Garfield,  in  all  that  struggle 
of  humanity  and  progress,  wherever  humanity  desired 
succor,  wherever  love  for  freedom  called  for  protection, 
wherever  the  country  called  for  a  defender,  wherever 
blows  fell  thickest  and  fastest,  there  in  the  forefront  of 
the  battle  were  seen  to  wave  the  white  plumes  of  James 
G.  Blaine,  our  Henry  of  Navarre.  Nominate  him,  and 
the  shouts  of  a  September  victory  in  Maine  will  be  re- 
echoed back  by  the  thunders  of  the  October  victory  in 
Ohio.  Nominate  him,  and  the  camp-fires  and  beacon 
lights  will  illuminate  the  continent  from  the  Golden 
Gate  to  Cleopatra's  needle.  Nominate  him,  and  the 
millions  who  are  now  in  waiting  will  rally  to  swell  the 
column  of  victory  that  is  sweeping  on. 

''  If  you  do  so,  he  will  give  you  a  glorious  victory  in 
November  next,  and  when  he  shall  have  taken  his  posi- 
tion as  President  of  the  great   Republic,  you  may  be 


212  JAMES  G.  BLAINE. 

sure  you  will  have  an  administration  in  the  interest  of 
commerce,  in  the  interest  of  labor,  in  the  interest  of 
finance,  in  the  interest  of  peace  at  home  and  peace 
abroad,  and  in  the  interest  uf  the  prosperity  of  this 
great  people."     [Long  applause.] 

The  nomination  was  seconded  by  ex-Governor  C.  K. 
Davis,  Colonel  W.  C.  Goodloe,  of  Kentucky,  ex-Sena- 
tor Piatt,  and  ex-Speaker  Grow,  of  Pennsylvania.  Their 
speeches,  which  were  generally  extremely  happy,  were 
received  with  vociferous  applause. 

The  organization  was  controlled  by  the  opponents  of 
Mr.  Blaine,  but  from  the  time  the  nominations  were 
made  the  Blaine  men  carried  everything  before  them. 
The  campaign  for  him  in  the  convention  was  well 
planned  and  brilliantly  executed.  An  instance  of  the 
sagacity  with  which  the  forces  for  the  ex-Senator  were 
managed  may  be  touched  upon.  Mr.  Blaine's  support- 
ers, aware  that  the  Arthur,  Edmunds,  and  Sherman  men 
had  agreed  to  compel  an  adjournment  on  the  night  of 
June  5th,  after  taking  a  single  ballot,  thus  forcing  an  ex- 
hibition of  strength  and  giving  a  night  for  opposing 
combinations,  assisted  in  carrying  out  this  intention. 
The  adjournment  which  they  secured  was,  however, 
taken  before,  instead  of  after  a  ballot,  and  when  the 
convention  met  afresh  the  next  morning  it  was  more 
difficult  to  gain  an  adjournment  in  the  anti-Blaine  in- 
terest. The  delegates  were  not  exhausted  as  on  the 
previous  night.  They  had  begun  the  actual  work  of 
the  convention  and  had  the  day  before  them.     It  was 


THE   NOMINATION.  213 

attempted  after  the  first  and  after  the  third  ballot  with- 
out success.  On  the  night  before  it  would,  doubtless, 
have  had  an  easy  success  if  it  had  not  been  for  the 
coup  of  the  Blaine  men. 

On  the  morning  of  June  6th  the  doors  of  the  Exposi- 
tion Hall  were  thrown  open  at  lo  o'clock,  and,  as  at  each 
session  of  the  convention  a  struggling  crowd  waited  for 
admission.  When  it  was  at  length  seated,  and  the  dele- 
gates had  found  their  places,  Chairman  Henderson, 
looking  down  over  the  portrait  of  Garfield,  set  in  a 
panel  of  his  desk,  called  the  convention  to  order. 
**  The  galleries,"  says  an  account,  "groaned  with  the 
weight  of  human  beings.  The  delegates  looked  weary 
and  exhausted.  The  feverish  fire  in  the  eyes  of  the 
Arthur,  Blaine,  and  Edmunds  leaders  told  the  story  of  a 
night  of  anxiety."  Prayer  was  offered  by  Rev.  Dr. 
Henry  M.  Scudder,  and  then  the  chairman  ordered  the 
clerk  to  call  the  roll  on  the  first  ballot  for  a  Presiden- 
tial candidate. 

"Alabama,"  shouted  the  clerk.  The  State  gave  17 
votes  for  Arthur,  i  for  Blaine,  and  i  for  Logan,  the 
chairman  of  the  delegation  announcing  the  illness  of 
one  of  the  delegates.  Arkansas  followed,  giving  Arthur 
4,  Blaine  8,  and  Edmunds  2.  California,  the  next  on 
the  list,  cast  her  vote  solidly  for  Blaine,  and  was  re- 
warded by  vociferous  cheers  from  Mr.  Blaine's  friends. 
Georgia  gave  her  entire  vote  to  Arthur,  and  Illinois 
gave  most  of  hers  to  Logan.  When  Indiana  gave 
Blaine    18,   and    Iowa  gave    him    26,  there   were   loud 


214  JAMES   G,    BLAINE. 

cheers.  Maine  followed  with  a  full  response  for  Blaine. 
All  eyes  observed  George  William  Curtis  as  he  arose 
from  his  seat  among  the  New  York  delegates  and  an- 
nounced the  vote  of  the  State  :  Arthur,  31,  Blaine,  28, 
Edmunds,  12.  Ohio  gave  Sherman  25,  and  Blaine  21, 
and  Pennsylvania  added  47  to  the  Blaine  column,  with 
II  for  Arthur,  i  for  Edmunds,  and  i  for  Logan.  West 
Virginia  was  unanimously  for  Blaine.  The  ballot 
stood,  Blaine  334^,  Arthur  278,  Edmunds  93,  Logan 
(iT^\^  John  Sherman  30,  Hawley  13,  Lincoln  4,  William 
T.  Sherman  2.  The  result  was  greeted  by  the  Blaine 
men  with  enthusiasm. 

The  ballot  showed  that  the  Arthur  and  Edmunds 
men  could  not  control  the  convention  without  aid  from 
the  minor  candidates,  and  delegates  in  their  interest 
went  about  endeavoring  to  secure  an  adjournment. 
They  were  unsuccessful,  and  the  second  ballot  was 
begun.  The  first  ballot  should  be  in  the  possession  of 
the  reader  in  detail  for  a  full  understanding  of  what 
followed. 

When  Alabama  was  called  again  she  showed  a  gain 
of  one  for  Blaine.  Arkansas  made  its  8  votes  for 
him  II,  and  with  this  good  beginning  the  ballot  went 
on  until  at  the  end  349  votes  were  recorded  for  Blaine. 
It  was  the  last  vote  announced  and  '*as  it  dropped, 
from  the  clerk's  lips,"  says  a  new^spaper  report,  "  the 
cheers  that  arose  were  deafening.  As  they  cheered 
the  Blaine  men  got  up  all  over  the  floor,  yelled  and 
cheered  and  whistled  in  the  galleries,  and  waved  their 


THE  NOMINATIOISr. 


215 


THE    FIRST   BALLOT. 


States. 


Alabama 

Arkansas 

Calif  >rnia 

Colorado 

Connecticut 

Delaware 

Florida 

Georgia 

Illinois 

Indiana 

Iowa 

Kansas 

Kentucky 

Louisiana 

Maine 

Maryland 

Massachusetts 

Michigan 

Minnesota 

Mississippi 

Missouri   

Nebraska 

Nevada 

New  Hampshire 

New  Jersey 

New  York 

North  Carolina 

Ohio 

Oregon 

Pennsylvania 

Rhode  Island 

South  Carolina 

Tennessee 

Texas 

Vermont 

Virgmia 

West  Virginia 

Wisconsin   

Tkrritories. 

Arizona 

Dakota 

Idaho 

Montana .. 

New  Mexico 

Utah 

Washington 

Wyoming 

District  of  Columbia. , 


1)4 


Totals 334X    278 


40 


93 


(>zW\   30       13 


Total,  818.     Necessary  to  a  choice,  411 
Louisiana  missing. 


One  vote  from  Alabama  and  one  from 


2l6  JAMES   G.    BLAINE. 

hats,  handkerchiefs,  and  umbrellas.  It  took  the  crowd 
fully  ten  minutes  to  get  over  their  rejoicing.  The 
chairman  looked  through  his  glasses  at  the  throng 
before  him,  but  did  not  strike  a  blow  with  his  gaveh" 
At  length  the  crowd  became  silent  enough  to  hear 
General  Henderson's  *'  Call  the  roll,"  and  the  third 
ballot  was  begun  as  the  rejoicing  echoes  died  away. 
Alabama,  Arkansas,  California,  Colorado,  Connecticut, 
Delaware,  Florida,  Georgia,  and  Illinois  repeated  their 
vote  on  the  second  ballot.  The  Arthur  men  shouted 
when  a  vote  before  given  to  Edmunds  ranged  itself  in 
their  column,  and  did  not  shout  when  Arthur's  vote  in 
Kansas  went  to  Blaine  entire.  In  Kentucky  another 
Arthur  man  deserted  to  Blaine,  and  until  Michigan 
was  reached  there  was  no  further  change.  Then  when 
two  Edmunds  men  from  that  State  came  over  to  Blaine 
the  Blaine  men  applauded  as  if  they  had  never  ap- 
plauded before.  Arthur  gained  a  Minnesota  vote  and 
some  rejoicing  followed  ;  then  he  gained  another  in 
Missouri,  but  Blaine  gained  four  and  followed  with  the 
solid  vote  of  Nebraska.  New  Jersey,  which  had  hitherto 
cast  no  vote  for  Arthur,  gave  him  one  and  at  the  same 
time  made  Blaine's  9  votes  17.  North  Carolina  gave 
Blaine  another  vote,  Ohio  two,  and  Pennsylvania  three. 
The  excitement  among  the  Blaine  delegation  increased 
and  every  gain  was  greeted  with  tumultuous  cheers. 
South  Carolina  and  Texas  each  gave  Blaine  one  ;  so 
did  Virginia.  The  convention  eagerly  awaited  the  an- 
nouncement of  the  ballot.   The  clerks  made  up  the  result 


THE  NOMINATION.  21/ 

in  the  midst  of  an  anxious  buzz.  Blaine  liad  gained  26 
votes  and  Artliur  liad  lost  2.  The  votes  which  failed 
from  Logan  and  Edmunds  came  to  Blaine.  It  looked  as 
if  Mr.  Blaine  were  on  the  road  to  success.  The  delegates 
had  commonly  kept  a  ''tally"  of  their  own  during  this 
ballot,  but  no  one  was  certain  of  the  result,  and  when  the 
clerk  read  :  Blaine  375,  Arthur  274,  Edmunds  69,  Logan 
53,  John  Sherman  25,  Hawley  13,  Lincoln  8,  W.  T. 
Sherman  2,  a  cheer  went  up  that  seemed  to  shake  the 
building. 

The  opponents  of  Blaine  saw  that  if  he  was  to  be 
defeated  the  remedy  must  be  stringent,  and  Judge 
Foraker,  of  Ohio,  in  command  of  the  Sherman  forces, 
jumping  to  his  feet,  moved  a  recess  until  half-past  seven 
o'clock.  There  were  loud  shouts  of  "  No  !  no!"  The 
uproar  became  deafening.  Mr.  Stewart,  of  Pennsylvania, 
shouted  for  a  fourth  ballot.  Theodore  Roosevelt,  of  New 
York,  was  held  upon  the  back  of  a  chair  while  he  cried 
for  recognition,  and  Judge  Foraker  meanwhile  kept 
the  floor,  demanding  that  his  motion  be  put.  Chairman 
Henderson  finally  submitted  it  and  declared  it  lost,  but 
the  ayes  and  noes  were  immediately  demanded.  The 
clerk  notwithstanding  repeatedly  called  Alabama,  as  a 
beginning  of  the  fourth  ballot,  but  Alabama,  though  not 
silent,  did  not  answer.  The  entire  convention  was  in  an 
uproar,  and  twenty  members  were  by  this  time  on  their 
feet  calling  aloud  for  the  ayes  and  noes.  The  chairman 
at  length  acceded  to  their  vociferous  request,  and  the 
clerk  called  the  roll  for  the  vote  on  the  motion  to  ad- 


2l8  JAMES   G.    B  LA  I  ATE. 

journ.  It  resulted  :  yeas  364,  nays  450.  No  doubt 
could  remain  after  this  of  the  nomination  of  Mr.  Blaine, 
and  again  the  delegates  in  his  interest  set  the  air  vi- 
brating with  their  shouts.  In  the  midst  of  the  tumult 
Judge  Foraker  moved  that  the  rules  be  suspended  in 
order  that  the  nomination  of  James  G.  Blaine  might  be 
made  by  acclamation,  but  the  opposition  to  this  was 
too  strong,  and  he  withdrew  his  motion. 

The  fourth  ballot  proceeded  in  Avild  confusion.  Six 
of  the  iVlabama  delegates  went  to  Blaine  immediately. 
Florida  helped  him.  When  Illinois  was  reached  it  was 
apparent  that  very  few  more  votes  would  be  needed  to 
nominate  Blaine,  and  Senator  Cullom  transferred  34 
Logan  votes  to  him  in  the  midst  of  tremendous  excite- 
ment. Louisiana  gave  him  9  votes.  When  Ohio  was 
called  Judge  Foraker  made  a  brief  speech,  in  which  he 
stated  that  he  had  supported  John  Sherman  from  the 
first,  but  that  Ohio  now  cast  46  votes  for  James  G. 
Blaine,  This  placed  his  nomination  beyond  doubt. 
His  friends  could  scarcely  wait  for  the  completion  of 
the  ballot  and  announcement  of  the  foregone  conclu- 
sion to  burst  in  cheers,  before  which  all  that  had  gone 
before  was  mild  and  decorous.  The  band  played  and 
they  drowned  its  music.  In  a  moment  the  sound  of 
the  rejoicing  boom  of  cannon  came  through  the  open 
windows.  Flags  and  handkerchiefs  were  waved  ;  men 
stood  upon  their  seats  and  shouted  themselves  hoarse. 
Ten  thousand  voices  joined  in  a  triumphant  huzza. 
In  two  earnest  contests  Mr.  Blaine's  friends  had  suffered 


THE   NOMINATION. 


219 


defeat   and   borne  it    patiently.      This  rich    and   over- 
whelming victory  was  a  great  joy  and  a  full  reward. 
Following  is  a  summary  of  the  ballots  : 


Candidates. 

I  St  ballot. 

2d  ballot. 

3d  ballot 

4lh  ballot. 

James  G.   Blaine 

334i 
278 

93 
63i 
30 
13 

4 

2 

349 
276 

61 

28 
13 

4 
2 

375 

274 
69 

53 
25 
13 

2 

541 
207 

41 
7 

Chester  A.   Arthur 

George  F.  Edmunds. .    . . . 
John  A.  I^ogan 

John  vSherman 

■'oseph  R.  Hawley 

\  Robert  E.  Lincoln 

William  T.  Sherman 

15 

2 

Total  vote 

818 
410 

818 
410 

819 
410 

813 

407 

Necessary  to  a  choice.  . . 

The  glad  shouts  had  not  subsided  when  Congress- 
man Burleigh,  in  behalf  of  the  President's  supporters, 
moved  to  make  the  nomination  unamimous.  Senators 
Sabin  and  Plumb  heartily  seconded  the  motion,  and 
the  Chair  put  it  : 

"  Those  who  are  in  favor  of  making  the  nomination 
of  James  G.  Blaine  unanimous  will  say  'aye.'" 

"Aye  !"  cried  the  delegates  and  galleries  in  concert. 

**  Those  who  are  opposed  will  say  '  no.*  " 

The  hall  was  silent. 


XX. 

RECEPTION    OF    THE    NOMINATION. 

It  was  graceful  and  appropriate  that  the  first  person 
to  congratulate  Mr.  Blaine  on  his  success  should  be  his 
rival,  President  Arthur,  who  sent  to  him  in  Augusta  the 
following  telegram,  read  in  the  convention  : 

To  the  Hon.  James  G.  Blame,  Aicgtcsta,  Me.  : 

As  the  candidate  of  the  Republican  party,  you  will  have  my  earnest 
and  cordial  support. 

Chester  A.  Arthur. 

The  President's  supporters,  not  only  in  the  conven- 
tion, but  wherever  found,  had  no  sullen  grudge  to  satisfy 
because  of  the  failure  of  their  candidate.  Including  the 
members  of  his  Cabinet,  they  accepted  it  with  expres- 
sions of  disappointment  indeed,  but  with  the  best  good- 
will. 

The  news  of  the  nomination  aroused  unusual  enthu- 
siasm throughout  the  country.  Early  in  the  evening 
fires  were  alight,  bands  parading,  and  guns  firing  in 
every  Republican  district.  The  name  was  received  with 
especial  satisfaction  throughout  the  West,  and  California 


RECEPTION  OF    THE   NOMTWATION.  221 

rent  itself  to  do  honor  to  the  nomination.  New  York's 
voice  was  not  uncertain,  and  on  the  morning  following 
the  adjournment  of  the  convention  the  general  pleas- 
ure at  the  convention's  choice  was  recorded  in  press 
telegrams  from  the  remotest  villages  describing  the 
form  which  their  rejoicings  had  taken.  In  New  York, 
Boston,  Washington,  and  all  the  larger  cities  crowds 
hung  about  the  bulletins,  and  the  intelligence  of  the 
nomination  was  received  with  the  most  genuine  and 
spontaneous  liking. 

It  was  at  Mr.  Blaine's  home,  however,  w^here  he  is 
known  not  only  as  a  great  public  figure,  but  as  a  man, 
that  the  greatest  joy  was  shown.  "  The  newspaper  and 
telegraph  offices,"  says  the  Kug\ist2i  Herald,  "were  be- 
sieged by  a  surging  mass  of  humanity.  But  it  was  not 
until  Mr.  Blaine's  nomination  was  displayed  that  the 
excitement  reached  its  highest  pitch  ;  then  everybody 
seemed  almost  beside  himself.  Men  embraced  each 
other  and  jumped  about  for  joy.  The  strongest  lungs 
were  strained." 

A  correspondent  writing  from  the  scene  says  : 
"  When  the  news  of  the  nomination  reached  Augusta 
a  perfect  wave  of  enthusiasm  rolled  over  the  city.  The 
streets  were  thronged  w^th  excited  men,  who,  almost 
frenzied  with  delight,  shouted  until  they  were  hoarse. 
They  threw  up  their  hats,  wrestled  with  each  other,  and 
cut  up  all  manner  of  capers.  A  flag  was  run  up  on 
Water  street,  inscribed  *  Our  Next  President,  James  G. 
Blaine.'     The  banner  was  received  with  loud  shouts  and 


222  JAMES   G.    B  LA  I  ME. 

cheers.  Bells  were  rung  and  cannon  fired.  Ten  min- 
utes after  the  nomination  a  large  body  of  school  chil- 
dren came  down  Oak  Street,  and  added  their  voices  to 
the  din.  The  shouts  and  hurrahs  could  be  heard  all 
over  the  city  until  far  into  the  night. 

"  Intense  interest  was  manifested  by  the  people  all  day 
in  the  proceedings  of  the  convention.  Early  in  the 
day  all  business  was  practically  suspended,  and  Mr. 
Blaine's  chances  became  the  chief  topic  of  conversation. 
The  first  despatch  of  the  day,  from  Postmaster  Manly, 
announcing  that  no  combinations  had  been  formed  dur- 
ing the  night  opposed  to  Mr.  Blaine,  created  a  buoyant 
feeling.  Each  bulletin  thereafter  attracted  an  increased 
crowd  of  readers,  and  the  result  of  the  first  ballot  was 
eagerly  awaited,  the  crowd  blocking  the  street  in  front 
of  the  bulletin  board  and  overrunning  the  telegraph 
office.  The  announcement  that  Mr.  Blaine  was  54  votes 
ahead  of  any  of  his  competitors  at  the  close  of  the  first 
ballot  created  considerable  speculation,  but  little  en- 
thusiasm. The  crowd  waited  with  intense  interest  to 
see  what  changes  would  occur  in  the  succeeding  ballot. 
The  gain  for  Blaine  and  the  weakening  of  Arthur  and 
Edmunds  were  received  with  demonstrations  of  satisfac- 
tion. When  the  announcement  came  that  there  was  a 
still  larger  gain  for  Blaine  on  the  third  ballot,  it  was 
with  difficulty  that  the  pent-up  excitement  could  be  re- 
strained, and  preparations  were  begun  to  celebrate 
Blaine's  nomination.  Ropes  were  thrown  across  the 
streets,  and  flags  inscribed  'Our  next  President,  J.  G. 


RECEPTION-  OF   THE   NOMINATION.  22^ 

Blaine,*  were  made  ready  to  fling  to  the  breeze  as  soon 
as  the  telegraph  should  click  what  appeared  to  be  the 
inevitable  result  of  the  balloting.  At  4.32  a  cheer  from 
the  telegraph  office  announced  a  victory,  and  then  be- 
gan an  old-fashioned  Fourth  of  July  celebration.  Old 
and  young.  Republicans  and  Democrats,  all  joined  in 
the  demonstration." 

Mr.  Blaine  arrived  in  Augusta  from  Washington  on 
Tuesday  of  the  week  of  the  nomination,  and  spent 
the  stormy  days  of  the  convention  quietly  in  his  library, 
at  work  upon  the  second  volume  of  *' Twenty  Years  in 
Congress."  His  bearing  during  this  time  was  not  less 
modest  and  uneager  than  on  the  occasion  of  the  two 
former  conventions.  A  journal  already  quoted,  speak- 
ing of  his  simple  carriage,  adds  : 

"  He  has  seemingly  been  as  unconcerned  at  what  was 
going  on  in  Chicago  as  he  would  be  had  he  not  been  a 
candidate  for  Presidential  honor.  His  mind  was  so  es- 
tranged or  diverted  from  politics  and  political  conven- 
tions, that  a  pair  of  horses  which  had  been  offered  him 
for  sale  seemed  to  give  him  a  more  congenial  and  inter- 
esting topic  of  conversation.  Perhaps,  also,  as  a  con- 
tradiction to  certain  reports  telegraphed  from  Augusta, 
it  is  proper  to  say  that  there  has  been  no  private  wire 
running  into  his  house,  nor  has  he  been  in  telegraphic 
communication  with  his  friends,  as  has  been  reported  ; 
nor  has  he  given  any  interviews  to  newspapers,  as  has 
been  alleged.  During  the  visits  made  him,  mostly  by 
his  immediate  neighbors,  he   has  studiously  refrained 


2  24  JAMES   G.    BLAIXE. 

from  any  expression  of  opinion  concerning  liis  candi- 
dacy, nor  has  lie  commented  on  the  proceedings  of  the 
convention.  He  has  obtained  his  information  of  the  do- 
ings of  the  convention  from  the  daily  newspapers." 

As  the  bulletins  were  handed  him  he  sat  upon  his 
lawn  in  the  midst  of  his  family  and  read  them  in  the 
methodical  manner  usual  with  him.  From  time  to  time 
he  rose  from  his  seat  and  paced  the  lawn,  exhibiting 
less  anxiety  than  he  has  often  shown  when  receiving 
the  election  returns  from  his  own  State  and  reckoning 
the  result.  When  the  news  of  the  nomination  was  re- 
ceived "  he  maintained  the  same  composure.  There 
was  only  a  slight  dilatation  of  his  big,  lustrous  eyes, 
which  showed  how  deeply  he  felt  and  appreciated  the 
great  honor  conferred  upon  him.  A  few  minutes  later 
he  betrayed  a  slight  emotion  as  he  casually  remarked 
that  he  owed  much  to  the  devoted  men  who  had  stood 
by  him  for  so  many  years. 

"  In  speaking  of  the  result,  he  said  that  he  felt  all  the 
more  gratified,  because  it  was  an  honor  that  had  come 
to  him  unsolicited.  He  had  not  lifted  a  finger  to  se- 
cure the  nomination,  nor  had  he  made  any  endeavor  in 
any  direction  to  get  it.  He  had  received  over  seven 
housand  letters  asking  him  to  be  a  candidate,  and  had 
not  answered  one  of  them.  Now  and  then  the  conver- 
sation turned  to  other  topics,  as  if  nothing  had  hap- 
pened." 

His  friends  began  presently  to  call  upon  him  in  large 
numbers,    and    congratulatory   telegrams    from    distin- 


RECEPTION   OF   THE   A'OMIXATIO.V.  22  5 

guished  Republicans  in  every  State  were  delivered  to 
him.  In  the  evening  a  large  part  of  the  people  of  the 
town  gathered  about  his  dwelling.  Their  number  was 
shortly  increased  by  the  arrival  of  the  train  from  the 
West,  bringing  many  from  Portland  and  the  villages 
along  the  railway  line.  In  response  to  the  cheers  of 
this  friendly  company  Mr.  Blaine  appeared  at  the  door 
of  his  house  and  said  : 

"  My  Friends  and  my  Neighbors — I  thank  you  most 
sincerely  for  the  honor  of  this  call.  There  is  no  spot 
in  the  world  where  good  news  comes  to  me  so  grate- 
fully as  here  at  my  own  home  ;  among  the  people  with 
whom  I  have  been  on  terms  of  friendship  and  intimacy 
for  more  than  thirty  years,  people  whom  I  know  and 
who  know  me.  Thanking  you  again  for  the  heartiness 
of  the  compliment,  I  bid  you  good  night." 

Among  the  messages  of  congratulation  received  by 
the  freshly  made  nominee,  none  could  have  been  more 
grateful  than  this  from  the  wife  of  one  who,  in  life,  was 
his  staunchest  friend  : 

''Cleveland,  O.,  June  7. 
"  To  Hon.  Jafnes  G.  Blaine : 

"  Our  household  joins  in  one  great  thanksgiving. 
From  the  quiet  of  our  home  we  send  our  most  earnest 
wish  that  through  the  turbulent  months  to  follow,  and 
in  the  day  of  victory,  you  may  be  guarded  and  kept. 

*'  LucRETiA  R.  Garfield." 

The  smoke  of  the  battle  had  not  cleared  away  before 
men  began  to  speculate  as  to  how  it  happened. 


226  JAMES  G.   BLAINE. 

It  happened  very  simply,  for  Mr.  Blaine  was  the 
choice  of  the  majority  of  the  convention.  But  it  is 
worth  while  to  reproduce  this  suggestive  analysis  : 

I.  Mr.  Arthur's  friends  on  the  fourth  ballot  gave  to  Mr. 
Blaine  71  votes,  and  these,  with  the  column  of  349  of 
the  latter,  constituted  420,  or  9  more  than  a  majority. 
It  is  therefore  true  that  Mr.  Arthur's  friends  may  claim 
that  they  alone  gave  to  the  successful  candidate  more 
allies  than  were  sufficient  to  nominate  him. 

II.  While  Mr.  Edmunds  had  93  votes  on  the  first  ballot, 
he  held  only  41  on  the  fourth  roll  call.  This  difference 
of  52  would  have  been  sufficient  to  carry  Mr.  Blaine's 
column  up  to  401,  and  to  insure  the  other  10  from  other 
sources,  to  make  up  the  majority.  It  is  true,  then,  that 
Mr.  Edmunds'  friends  alone  contributed  to  the  success- 
ful candidates  a  contingent  adequate  to  determine  the 
nomination. 

III.  Logan  started  with  d^i^  votes,  and  ended  with  7. 
His  friends  led  56^  votes  to  Blaine.  This  accession 
alone  raised  the  leading  column  to  405^  ;  the  comple- 
ment for  a  majority  could  not  fail  to  follow. 

IV.  The  strength  of  the  two  Shermans  and  of  Lincoln 
aggregated  -^6  on  the  first  ballot  and  two  on  the  last. 
From  these  quarters  34  votes  went  to  make  up  the  ma- 
jority. They  alone  would  not  have  controlled  the  event, 
and  yet  they  go  to  prove  that  every  element  in  the  con- 
vention joined  to  make  the  nomination. 

All  rivals  joined  to  decorate  the  successful  candidate 
with  a  majority  unparalleled  in  political  history.     Such 


RECEPTION  OF   THE   NO  MI  NATION:  22/ 

unanimity  and  such  harmony,  such  concentration  of  sen- 
timent, in  the  convention,  are  only  signs  of  the  hearti- 
ness of  Republican  preference  for  the  foremost  Ameri- 
can, for  the  most  popular  of  our  statesmen,  for  the  com- 
moner most  beloved  by  the  people. 

Ratification  meetings  were  held  in  certain  places 
within  a  few  hours  of  the  nomination,  and  the  days  im- 
mediately following  were  filled  with  these  expressions 
of  a  genuine  satisfaction. 

The  choice  of  the  convention  was  not  pleasing  to  all 
Republicans.  The  system  of  nomination  is  such  that 
some  bitter  feeling  must  always  remain  with  the  de- 
feated ;  and  this  year  the  preliminary  canvass  had  been 
especially  acrimonious,  and  some  things  had  been  un- 
wisely said  in  advance  of  the  nomination  which  could 
not  be  retracted  with  consistency.  On  the  whole,  how- 
ever, the  nomination  was  accepted  in  the  spirit  becom- 
ing those  who  have  fought  an  honest  fight  and  have 
been  honestly  defeated.  There  could  be  no  pretence 
that  Mr.  Blaine  had  not  been  fairly  chosen,  or  that 
he  was  not  the  choice  of  an  overwhelming  majority 
of  the  delegates.  That  he  was  also  the  nominee 
whom  the  greater  part  of  the  Republicans  everywhere 
desired  was  immediately  owned  by  his  opponents. 
Nevertheless  there  was  a  note  of  dissent.  While  the  bon- 
fires were  sending  up  their  merry  flames  and  the  can- 
non sounded  joyfully  in  every  village  of  importance 
in  the  North,  there  was  a  small  body  of  men  whose  in- 
clinations were  not  toward  bonfires  or  cannon.     They 


228  JAMES   G.    BLAISE. 

received  the  intelligence  of  Mr.  Blaine's  nomination  in 
sullen  disappointment,  and  used  the  earliest  opportu- 
nity to  make  their  sour  prophecies  and  warnings.  It 
was  in  the  main,  perhaps,  an  honest  body — though  its 
sentiment  was  largely  inspired  by  free-trade  grumblings 
— but  it  was  not  so  large  nor  did  it  represent  a  senti- 
ment so  well  worth  the  heed  of  intelligent  voters  as  the 
companies  of  revolt  which  have  resulted  from  other 
presidential  nominations.  The  choice  of  Lincoln  and 
Grant  and  Garfield  roused  much  deeper  opposition  in 
the  first  weeks  succeeding  their  nomination  ;  and  yet, 
dear  to  the  popular  heart,  grounded  securely  in  the 
liking  of  the  masses,  they  went  irresistibly  on  to  splen- 
did victories.  The  judgment  of  the  convention  which 
named  Mr.  Blaine  was  of  like  firm  foundation.  It  was 
an  answer  to  the  unforced,  earnest  demand  of  the  people, 
and  it  is  to  the  people  that  his  friends  look  for  the  stout 
confirmation  of  their  choice  offered  to  Lincoln,  Grant, 
and  Garfield,  and  for  the  confuting  of  those  who  doubt 
the  wisdom  of  their  mighty  voice. 

The  committee  to  inform  Mr.   Blaine  of  his  nomina- 
tion was  composed  as  follows  : 

John  B.  Henderson,  of  Missouri,  chairman. 
George  Turner,  of  Alabama. 
Logan  H.  Roots,  of  Arkansas. 
Charles  F.  Crocker,  of  California. 
S.  H.  Elbert,  of  Colorado. 
Samuel  Fessenden,  of  Connecticut. 
Washington  Hastings,  of  Delaware. 
W.  G.  Stewart,  of  Florida. 
C.  D.  Forsyth,  of  Georgia. 


RECEPTION  OF   THE  NOMINATION,  229 

George  R.  Davis,  of  Illinois. 

John  K.  Baker,  of  Indiana. 

N.  W.  Hubbard,  of  Iowa. 

Henry  E.  Insley,  of  Kansas. 

W.  C.  GoODLOE,  of  Kentucky. 

W.  B.  Merchant,  of  Louisiana. 

JosiAH  H.  Drummond,  of  Maine. 

J.  McPherson,  of  Maryland. 

Jesse  M.  Gove,  of  Massachusetts. 

Julius  C.  Burrows,  of  Michigan. 

CusHMAN  K.  Davis,  of  Minnesota. 

John  R.  Lynch,  of  Mississippi. 

Chauncey  I.  Filley,  of  Missouri. 

Church  Howe,  of  Nebraska. 

M.  D.  Foley,  of  Nevada. 

E.  H.  Rollins,  of  New  Hampshire. 

William  Walter  Phelps,  of  New  Jersey. 

Andrew  D.  White,  of  New  York. 

Patrick  H.  Winston,  Jr.,  of  North  Carolina. 

John  B.  Foraker,  of  Ohio. 

O.  N.  Denny,  of  Oregon. 

Galusha  a.  Grow,  of  Pennsylvania. 

Daniel  G.  Littlefield,  of  Rhode  Island. 

Samuel  W.  Lee,  of  South  Carolina. 

J.  C.  Napier,  of  Tennessee. 

N.  W.  Cuney,  of  Texas. 

Frederick  Billings,  of  Vermont 

Samuel  M.  Yost,  of  Virginia. 

Arnold  C.  Sherr,  of  Vv'est  Virginia. 

E.  W.  Keys,  of  Wisconsin. 

S.  H.  Stebbins,  of  Arizona. 

J.  L.  Jolly,  of  Dakota. 

Perry  H.  Carson,  of  the  District  of  Columbia. 

William  Shelling,  of  Idaho. 

Lee  Mantle,  of  Montana. 

W.  H.  H.  Llewellyn,  of  New  Mexico. 

Nathan  Kimball,  of  Utah. 

George  D.  Hill,  of  Washington. 

W.  J.  Meldrum,  of  W'yoming. 

Charles  M.  Chisbee,  of  Miciiigan,  secretary. 


230  JAMES   G.    BLAINE. 

This  committee  arrived  in  Augusta  on  June  20th,  and 
the  next  morning  proceeded  in  a  body  to  Mr.  Blaine's 
house,  where  they  were  received  by  Mrs.  Blaine.  When 
all  was  in  readiness,  Mr.  Blaine  was  escorted  to  the 
lawn,  where  he  stood  while  General  Henderson  stepped 
forward  and  read  the  address  of  the  committee,  which 
was  as  follows  : 

*'  Mr.  Blaine — Your  nomination  for  the  office  of  the 
President  of  the  United  States  by  the  National  Repub- 
lican Convention,  recently  assembled  at  Chicago,  is 
already  known  to  you.  The  gentlemen  before  you, 
constituting  the  committee  composed  of  one  member 
from  each  State  and  Territory  of  the  country,  and  one 
from  the  District  of  Columbia,  now  come  as  the  ac- 
credited organ  of  that  convention  to  give  you  formal 
notice  of  your  nomination  and  to  request  your  accept- 
ance thereof.  It  is  of  course  known  to  you  that,  besides 
your  own,  several  other  names,  among  the  most  honored 
in  the  councils  of  the  Republican  party,  were  presented 
by  their  friends  as  candidates  for  this  nomination.  Be- 
tween your  friends  and  the  friends  of  the  other  gentle- 
men so  justly  entitled  to  the  respect  and  confidence  of 
their  political  associates,  the  contest  was  one  of  gener- 
ous rivalry,  free  from  any  taint  of  bitterness,  and  equally 
free  from  the  reproach  of  injustice. 

**  At  an  early  stage  of  the  proceedings  of  the  conven- 
tion it  became  manifest  that  the  Republican  States 
whose  aid  must  be  invoked  at  last  to  insure  success  to 
the  ticket  earnestly  desired   your  nomination.     It  was 


RECEPTION  OF   THE   NOMINATION:  23 1 

equally  manifest  that  the  desire  so  earnestly  expressed 
by  delegates  from  those  States  was  but  a  truthful  reflec- 
tion of  an  irresistible  popular  demand.  It  was  not 
thought  nor  pretended  that  this  demand  had  its  origin 
in  any  ambitious  desires  of  your  own  or  in  organized 
work  of  your  friends,  but  it  was  recognized  to  be  what 
it  truthfully  is — a  spontaneous  expression  by  the  free 
people  of  love  and  admiration  of  a  chosen  leader.  No 
nomination  would  have  given  satisfaction  to  every  mem- 
ber of  the  party.  This  is  not  to  be  expected  in  a  coun- 
try so  extended  in  area  and  so  varied  in  interests.  The 
nomination  of  Mr.  Lincoln  in  i860  disappointed  so 
many  hopes  and  overthrew  so  many  cherished  ambi- 
tions, that  for  a  short  time  disaffection  threatened  to 
ripen  into  open  revolt.  In  1872  the  discontent  was  so 
pronounced  as  to  impel  large  masses  of  the  party  to  an 
organized  opposition  to  its  nominees.  For  many  weeks 
after  the  nomination  of  General  Garfield,  in  1880,  defeat 
seemed  almost  inevitable.  In  each  case  the  shock  of  dis- 
appointment was  followed  by  "sober  second  thought.'* 
Individual  preferences  gradually  yielded  to  convictions 
of  public  duty.  The  prompting  of  patriotism  finally 
rose  superior  to  the  irritations  and  animosities  of  the 
hour.  The  party  in  ev^ery  trial  has  grown  stronger  in 
the  face  of  threatened  danger. 

*'  In  tendering  you  the  nomination  it  gives  us  pleasure 
to  remember  that  those  great  measures  which  furnished 
the  cause  for  party  congratulations  by  the  late  conven- 
tion at  Chicago,  and  which  are  now  crystallized  into 


232  JAMES  G.   B  LA  IKE. 

the  legislation  o£  the  country — measures  which  have 
strengthened  and  dignified  the  Nation  while  they  have 
elevated  and  advanced  the  people — have  at  all  times  and 
on  all  proper  occasions  received  your  earnest  and  valu- 
able support.  It  was  your  good  fortune  to  aid  in  protect- 
ing the  Nation  against  the  assaults  of  armed  treason. 
You  were  present  and  helped  to  unloose  the  shackles  of 
slavery,  you  assisted  in  placing  anew  guarantees  of  free- 
dom in  the  Federal  Constitution.  Your  voice  was  po- 
tent in  preserving  national  faith,  when  false  theories  of 
finance  would  have  blasted  national  and  individual  pros- 
perity. We  kindly  remember  you  as  the  fast  friend  of 
honest  money  and  commiercial  integrity.  In  all  that 
pertains  to  the  security  and  repose  of  capital,  the  dig- 
nity of  labor,  manhood,  the  elevation  and  freedom  of 
the  people,  the  right  of  the  oppressed  to  demand,  and 
the  duty  of  the  government  to  afford  protection,  your 
public  acts  have  received  the  unqualified  endorsement 
of  popular  approval. 

"But  we  are  not  unmindful  of  the  fact  that  parties, 
like  individuals,  cannot  live  entirely  on  the  past,  how- 
ever splendid  the  record.  The  present  is  ever  charged 
with  its  immediate  cares,  and  the  future  presses  on  with 
its  new  duties,  its  perplexing  responsibilities  ;  parties, 
like  individuals,  however,  that  are  free  from  the  stain  of 
violated  faith  in  the  past  are  fairly  entitled  to  the  pre- 
sumption of  sincerity  in  their  promises  for  the  future. 
Among  the  promises  made  by  the  party  in  its  late  con-, 
vention   at   Chicago,  are  :  economy  and  purity  of   ad- 


RECEPTION  OF   THE   NOMINATION.  233 

ministration  ;  protection  of  the  citizen,  native  and 
naturalized,  at  home  and  abroad  ;  the  prompt  restora- 
tion of  the  Navy ;  the  wise  reduction  of  surplus  reve- 
nues, relieving  the  taxpayer  without  injuring  the 
laborer  ;  the  preservation  of  public  lands  for  actual 
settlers ,  import  duties  when  necessary  at  all  to  be 
levied,  not  for  revenue  only,  but  for  the  double  purpose 
of  revenue  and  protection  ;  the  regulation  of  internal 
commerce  ;  the  settlement  of  international  differences 
by  peaceful  arbitration,  but  coupled  with  the  reasser- 
tion  and  maintenance  of  the  Monroe  doctrine  as  inter- 
preted by  the  fathers  of  the  Republic  ;  perseverance 
in  the  good  work  of  the  civil  service  reform,  to  the 
end  that  dangers  to  free  institutions  which  lurk  in  the 
power  of  official  patronage  may  be  wisely  and  effectively 
avoided,  honest  currency  based  on  coin  of  intrinsic  value, 
adding  strength  to  the  public  credit,  and  giving  renewed 
vitality  to  every  branch  of  American  industry. 

**  Mr.  Blaine — During  the  last  twenty-three  years 
the  Republican  party  has  builded  a  new  Republic — a 
Republic  far  more  splendid  than  originally  designed  by 
our  fathers.  As  its  proportions  are  already  grand  they 
may  yet  be  enlarged  ;  its  foundations  may  yet  be 
strengthened,  and  its  columns  may  be  adorned  with  a 
beauty  more  resplendent  still.  To  you  as  its  architect- 
in-chief  will  soon  be  assigned  this  grateful  work." 

To  which  Mr.  Blaine  replied  : 

''  Mr.  Chairman  and  Gentlemen  of  the  National 
Committee  : — I   receive,  not  without  deep  sensibility, 


234  JAMES  G.  BLAINE. 

your  ofRcial  notice  of  the  action  of  the  National  Con- 
vention already  brought  to  my  knowledge  through  the 
public  press.  I  appreciate,  more  profoundly  than  I  can 
express,  the  honor  which  is  implied  in  the  nomination 
for  the  Presidency  by  the  Republican  party  of  the  na- 
tion, speaking  through  the  authoritative  voice  of  duly 
accredited  delegates.  To  be  selected  as  a  candidate  by 
such  an  assemblage  from  the  list  of  eminent  statesmen 
whose  names  were  presented  fills  me  with  embarras- 
ment.  I  can  only  express  my  gratitude  for  so  signal  an 
honor  and  my  desire  to  prove  worthy  of  the  great  trust 
imposed  in  me.  In  accepting  the  nomination  as  I  now 
do,  I  am  impressed — I  am  also  oppressed — with  a  sense 
of  the  labor  and  responsibility  which  attach  to  my  posi- 
tion. The  burden  is  lightened,  however,  by  the  host  of 
earnest  men  who  support  my  candidacy,  many  of  whom 
add,  as  does  your  honorable  committee,  the  cheer  of  per- 
sonal friendship  to  the  pledge  of  political  fealty. 

''A  more  formal  acceptance  will  naturally  be  expected, 
and  will  in  due  season  be  communicated.  It  may,  how- 
ever, not  be  inappropriate  at  this  time  to  say  that  I  have 
already  made  a  careful  study  of  the  principles  announced 
by  the  National  Convention,  and  that,  in  whole  and  in 
detail,  they  have  my  heartiest  sympathy  and  meet  my 
unqualified  approval. 

"  Apart  from  your  official  errand,  gentlemen,  I  am  ex- 
tremely happy  to  welcome  you  all  to  my  house.  With 
many  of  you  I  have  already  shared  the  duties  of  public 
service  and  have  enjoyed   most  cordial  friendship.     I 


RECEPTION  OF  THE   NOMINATION.  235 

trust  your  journey  from  all  parts  of  the  great  Republic 
has  been  agreeable,  and  that  during  your  stay  in  Maine 
you  will  feel  that  you  are  not  among  strangers,  but  with 
friends. 

"  Invoking  the  blessings  of  God  upon  the  great  cause 
which  we  jointly  represent,  let  us  turn  to  the  future 
without  fear,  and  with  manly  hearts." 


XXL 

THE    MAN. 

The  history  of  the  Republican  candidate  has  been 
traced.  We  have  followed  Mr.  Blaine  through  college 
to  the  teacher's  seat  and  the  chair  of  an  editor.  Later 
he  has  been  seen  in  the  State  Legislature,  the  House 
of  Representatives,  the  Senate,  and  in  charge  of  the 
first  portfolio  of  the  Cabinet.  The  story  of  the  quiet 
years  of  study  succeeding,  and  the  nomination  which 
has  called  him  from  the  calm  pleasures  of  literature,  has 
been  duly  made  known  to  the  reader.  There  remains 
the  mysterious  and  intangible  quality  of  individuality, 
— something  of  which  this  little  history,  if  at  all  faithful, 
must  have  given  some  hints  in  its  progress,  but  which 
it  will  not  do  to  leave  to  its  casual  revelations.  The 
kind  of  impertinence  which  one  feels  in  dealing  at  all 
with  so  intimate  a  part  of  a  living  man  is  one  which 
must  be  forgiven  to  the  biographer  of  the  most  com- 
pletely public  figure  that  we  know — a  candidate  for  the 
Presidency.  Since  it  must  be  part  of  our  record,  it  can- 
not be  better  begun  than  by  the  reproduction  of  some 


THE  man;  237 

honest  words  from  one  who  may  be  presumed  to  know 
him  nearly.  Rev.  Dr.  James  H.  Ecol,  who  for  some 
years  was  pastor  of  the  church  attended  by  Mr.  and 
Mrs.  Blaine  in  Augusta,  has  said  : 

**  The  satisfaction  I  take  in  his  nomination  is  based 
upon  such  knowledge  of  him  as  only  a  pastor  can  gaia 
I  believe  that  I  am  too  true  a  Republican,  and  I  know 
that  my  conception  of  citizenship  is  too  high,  to  permit 
me  to  ratify  the  exaltation  of  any  man  whose  character 
has  not  the  true  ring.  I  have  been  very  near  to  Mr. 
Blaine,  not  only  in  the  most  trying  political  crises,  but 
in  the  sharper  trial  of  great  grref  in  the  household,  and 
have  never  yet  detected  a  false  note.  I  would  not  be 
understood  as  asserting  too  much  for  human  nature. 
I  mean  that  as  I  have  known  him  he  has  stood  loyally 
by  his  convictions  ;  that  his  word  has  always  had  back 
of  it  a  clear  purpose,  and  that  purpose  has  always  been 
worthy  of  the  highest  manhood.  In  his  house  he  was 
always  the  soul  of  geniality  and  good  heart.  It  was 
always  summer  in  that  house,  whatever  the  Maine  win- 
ter might  be  without.  And  not  only  his  *  rich  neighbors 
and  kinsmen '  w^elcomed  him  home,  but  a  long  line  of 
the  poor  hailed  the  return  of  that  family  as  a  special 
providence.  In  the  church  he  is  honored  and  beloved. 
The  good  old  New  England  custom  of  church-going 
with  all  the  guests  is  enforced  strictly  in  the  Blaine 
household.  Whoever  is  under  his  roof,  from  the  Pres- 
ident down,  is  expected  to  be  with  the  family  at  church. 
Fair  weather  or  foul,  those  pews  were  always  well  filled. 


238  JAMES   G.    BLAINE. 

Not  only  his  presence  in  church,  but  his  influence^  his 
wise  counsels,  his  purse  are  freely  devoted  to  the  inter- 
est of  the  noble  Old  South  Church  of  Augusta.  The 
hold  which  Mr.  Blaine  has  maintained  upon  the  hearts 
of  such  great  numbers  of  his  countrymen  is  not  suffici- 
ently explained  by  brilliant  gifts  or  magnetism  ;  the 
secret  lies  in  his  generous,  manly.  Christian  character. 
Those  who  have  known  him  best  are  not  surprised  that 
his  friends  all  over  the  country  have  been  determined 
that  he  should  secure  the  highest  honor  within  their 
gift.  It  is  because  they  believe  in  him.  The  office  has 
sought  the  man,  the  political  papers  to  the  contrary 
notwithstanding.  I  have  absolute  knowledge  that  in 
1880  he  did  not  lift  a  finger  to  influence  the  convention. 
He  was  quietly  at  home  devoting  himself  to  his  business 
affairs,  and  steadfastly  refused  even  the  entreaties  of 
his  own  family  to  interest  himself  in  behalf  of  the 
nomination.  I,  for  one,  shall  put  my  conscience  into 
my  vote  next  November." 

That  touch  of  genuineness — uncounterfeitable,  unde- 
niable when  present,  which  endeared  Garfield  to  every- 
one who  heard  and  even  to  those  who  merely  read  his 
words,  runs  through  the  character  of  his  friend.  Gar- 
field's own  severe  loyalty  to  truth  and  right  was  a 
touchstone  which  drew  its  like  and  which  sounded  every 
one  who  approached  him.  To  say  that  a  man  was  his 
trusted  friend  seems  to  those  who  keep  his  memory  the 
final  word. 

There  is  nothing  so  well  worth  saying  to  the  praise  of 


THE    MAX.  239 

this  sketch's  subject  ;  but  it  does  not  complete  his  por- 
trait. It  ought  to  be  added,  for  instance,  to  begin  with 
the  sturdy  minor  virtues,  that  industry  has  been  one  of 
the  foremost  qualities  which  have  lifted  Mr.  Blaine  to 
his  position.  In  Congress,  as  has  been  said,  he  w^as 
from  the  first  one  of  the  most  unsparingly  laborious  and 
faithful  of  committee-men.  His  mastery  of  details  w^as 
rapid  and  accurate,  and  left  him  in  firm  possession  of  the 
larger  points  of  the  questions  which  came  before  him. 
Elsew^here  in  this  volume  are  some  w^ords  of  his  upon 
the  value  of  the  capacity  for  hard  work  to  the  dead 
President  whom  he  eulogized,  and  it  has  been  the  cor- 
ner-stone of  his  own  career.  It  is  not  a  usual  combina- 
tion, this  of  the  patient  laborer  and  the  commanding 
genius  wiiich  takes  the  eye  of  the  world  ;  but  Mr.  Blaine 
did  his  unobserved  plodding  with  the  zeal  and  energy 
which  carried  all  before  him  on  the  wider  stage  of  the  two 
Houses  of  Congress.  His  notable  physical  endowment 
is  part  of  the  secret  of  his  power  of  concentration  ;  but 
it  was  first  in  the  nature  of  the  man.  It  was  exhibited 
so  early  in  his  life  as  during  his  college  days,  when  it 
enabled  that  solid  and  ample  acquirement  of  knowledge 
which  has  strengthened  and  enlightened  his  public  acts 
as  well  as  his  public  discourses. 

Those  who  like  to  trace  the  beginnings  of  things  go 
back  to  his  college  days  also  for  the  budding  of  the  spirit 
of  aggressiveness  which  is  perhaps  the  characteristic 
most  commonly  attributed  to  the  Republican  candidate. 
Then,  as  has  been  recorded,  he  was  the  eager  champion 


240  JAMES  G.   BLAINE. 

of  the  weak,  ready  at  all  times  to  do  battle  whether  for 
his  own  rights  or  those  of  others.  The  quality  was  an 
outcome  of  a  positive  individuality.  It  never  at  all  par- 
took of  the  anxious  pugnacity  which  finds  its  account 
in  mere  contest,  and  with  his  years  it  sobered  into  the 
vigorous  temper  of  opposition  to  mistaken,  narrow,  and 
meretricious  legislation,  which  gave  him  much  of  his 
power  in  the  House.  He  was  alert,  decided,  and  ener- 
getic ;  and  if  the  disposition  which  breeds  these  is  the 
aggressive  one,  then  aggression  is  a  singularly  fortunate 
spirit  for  an  American  Congressman.  He  was  constant 
in  his  attention  upon  the  sessions  of  both  Houses  while 
he  was  a  member  of  them,  and  no  suspicious  law  was 
passed  without  his  challenge.  In  his  eulogy  of  Gar- 
field, Mr.  Blaine  says  "  The  three  most  distinguished  par- 
liamentary leaders  hitherto  developed  in  this  country 
are  Mr.  Clay,  Mr.  Douglas,  and  Mr.  Thaddeus  Stevens. 
Each  was  a  man  of  consummate  ability,  of  great  earnest- 
ness, of  intense  personality,  differing  widely  each  from 
the  others,  and  yet  with  a  single  trait  in  common,  the 
power  to  command.  In  the  give  and  take  of  daily  dis- 
cussion, in  the  art  of  controlling  and  consolidating  re- 
luctant and  refractory  followers,  in  the  skill  to  overcome 
all  forms  of  opposition,  and  to  meet  with  competency 
and  courage  the  varying  phases  of  unlooked-for  assault 
or  unsuspected  defection,  it  would  be  difficult  to  rank 
with  these  a  fourth  name  in  all  our  Congressional  his- 
tory." Mr.  Blaine's  name  may  perhaps  fairly  be  set  down 
as  that  fourth.     His  words  are  the  apt  description  of 


THE   MAN-.  241 

his  own  power ;  and  they  say  that  power  so  perfectly 
that  it  is  needless  to  add  anything  to  them. 

Such  aforce  is  interesting,  but  it  is  not  on  this  side  that 
he  is  to  be  most  familiarly  approached.  It  is  as  he  is 
known  to  his  acquaintance,  his  friends,  and  neighbors 
that  he  engages  us;  and  few  public  men,  after  Garfield, 
bear  this  intimate  kind  of  scrutiny  better.  Some  one 
says  that  he  is  *'a  hearty,  cordial,  unaffected,  agreeable 
man."  The  phrase  is  inadequate  only  because  the  charm 
of  manner  is  elusive  of  expression.  "He  is  vivid  and 
genial,"  it  is  added,  but  the  whole  is  not  said.  It  is  a 
thing  which  can  be  at  all  rendered  only  by  its  result ; 
but  if  we  say  that  no  one  converses  with  him  who  is 
not  charmed  and  impressed,  it  is  still  very  weakly  told. 

*'Mr.  Blaine  with  those  who  know  him  is  the  most 
popular  of  men.  The  charm  of  his  manner  is  beyond 
expression,  and  nobody  comes  within  the  circle  of  his 
presence  who  is  not  overcome  with  his  fascinations. 
With  his  great  brilliancy  he  has  that  exquisite  show  of 
deference  to  his  companions,  a  sort  of  appeal  to  them 
to  verify  or  deny  his  words,  that  is  very  taking.  He  is 
also  a  very  good  listener,  and  he  has  an  agreeable  way 
of  speaking  one's  name  and  placing  his  hand  on  one's 
knee,  that  is  an  agreeable  salve  to  one's  vanity.  There 
is  no  acting  in  the  heartiness  of  his  manner.  He  is  an 
impulsive  man,  with  a  very  warm  heart,  kindly  instincts, 
and  a  generous  nature.    He  is  open,  frank,  and  manly." 

One  has  not,  however,  the  more  perfect  form  of  an 

agreeable  bearing,  lacking  a  real  substructure  of  gentle- 
i5 


242  JAMES  G.  BLAIh^E. 

ness  and  good-will,  sustained  in  their  turn  b}^  the  deeper 
qualities  from  which  they  spring.  Mr.  Blaine  has  not 
only  these  ;  he  is  equipped  in  addition  with  that  best 
grace  in  a  public  man,  a  sound  memory.  It  is  stored 
not  alone  with  the  facts  and  arguments  which  are  his 
weapons,  or  the  wide  knowledge  with  which  he  points 
them.  It  is  a  happily  personal  memory,  and  never 
loses  from  it  a  face  or  voice.  The  anecdotes  which 
illustrate  this  would  make  an  abundant  literature,  and 
that  of  his  recalling  an  old  farmer  whom  he  had  met 
once  four  years  before,  and  captivating  him  by  using 
his  name  and  bringing  to  his  own  lapsed  memory  a 
trivial  incident  of  their  first  meeting  is  an  instance  of 
them.  A  journalist  produces  a  more  remarkable  story. 
**  In  1863,"  says  he,  "  I  wrote  for  The  New  York  Her- 
ald 2Ci\  account,  some  twelve  columns  long,  of  the  battle 
of  Chickamauga.  About  twenty  lines  of  the  entire  ac- 
count were  devoted  to  the  narration  of  a  trifling  inci- 
dent. A  white  pigeon,  or  dove,  confused  by  the  smoke 
of  the  last  desperate  combat  at  the  close  of  the  battle, 
in  which  George  H.  Thomas  repulsed  Longstreet's  at- 
tack on  his  right,  fluttered  awhile  over  the  heads  of 
Thomas,  Garfield,  Wood,  and  others,  grouped  in  a  little 
hollow  in  the  field  for  protection  from  the  Rebel  sharp- 
shooters, and  then  perched  on  the  limb  of  a  dead  tree 
just  above  them.  Here  it  sat  until  the  firing  ceased, 
and  then  flew  northward  unhurt.  It  was  a  pretty  inci- 
dent, and,  of  course,  I  took  all  the  license  of  a  writer 
and  made  it  as  striking  a  passage  of  the  narrative  as  I 


THE   MAN.  243 

could.  In  1874,  eleven  )^ears  later,  while  in  the  Capital 
one  day  I  was  introduced  to  Mr.  Blaine,  who  was  at  the 
time  Speaker  of  the  House.  If  I  remember  rightly,  I 
had  never  before  seen  him,  and  I  supposed  he  had  never 
heard  of  me.  Imagine  my  astonishment,  then,  when  he 
said  abruptly  on  hearing  my  name,  'You're  the  man 
I've  been  wanting  to  see  for  ten  years.' 

*'  He  took  my  arm  and  drew  me  half  away  to  one  side 
of  the  corridor.  *  Did  you  write  for  The  Herald  an  ac- 
count of  Chickamauga  in  which  a  white  dove  figured 
rather  poetically  ? '  he  asked,  and  then  went  on  to  recall 
what  I  had  written.  '  Now,'  he  continued,  '  tell  me,  was 
that  a  true  incident  or  only  done  to  make  the  story  read- 
able.' I  assured  him  it  was  true,  and  mentioned  that 
General  Garfield,  who  was  in  the  House,  would  proba- 
bly recall  it,  as  he  was  present.  Nothing  more  of  inter- 
est passed  between  us  ;  but  naturally  I  have  since  sworn 
by  the  man  who  could  recall  my  unknown  name  and 
what  I  had  written  about  a  mere  incident  occurring  ten 
years  before.  He  was  so  earnest  in  his  inquiry  that  I 
have  never  doubted  that  his  curiosity  in  the  matter, 
small  as  the  incident  was,  was  genuine." 

If  to  his  energy  his  indefatigable  efforts  for  honest 
laws,  his  faithfulness  to  the  best  good  of  his  party,  his 
aggressive  determination  that  the  right  shall  win,  we 
add  those  personal  charms  of  manner  just  touched  upon, 
and  that  indescribable  element  in  his  addresses  to  the 
people  during  political  canvasses  which  takes  all  hearts, 
we  have  a  fair  measure  of  the  causes  of  his  popularity^ 


244  JAMES  G.  BLAINE. 

though  we  have  but  a  vague  measure  of  the  man.  At 
least,  however,  we  know  that  the  real  popularity  is  not 
won  by  any  craft  or  art  known  to  men  ;  we  know  that 
Mr.  Blaine's  popularity  is  real,  and  that  by  means  of  all 
his  admirable  qualities  it  would  not  have  been  possible 
if  they  had  not  been  grounded  upon  an  honest  man- 
hood. 


& 


A  BRIEF  RECORD 


THE     LIFE     OF 


JOHN     A.     LOGAN 


JOHN  A.  LOGAN. 


Senator  Logan,  the  Republican  candidate  for  Vice- 
President,  has,  like  Mr.  Blaine,  been  successful  in  many- 
pursuits.  He  is  a  sound  and  able  lawyer,  a  sagacious 
political  manager,  and  he  was  an  intrepid  and  brilliant 
general.  But  it  is  as  a  soldier  that  his  solidest  fame 
has  been  won,  and  the  story  of  his  life  is  in  the  main  a 
military  story.  The  record  of  campaigns  and  battles 
when  told  in  brief,  as  it  must  be  here,  bears  the  rela- 
tion to  biography  that  the  catalogue  of  the  ships  does 
to  the  Iliad,  and  as  a  catalogue,  at  the  end  of  the  ends,  is 
no  more  than  a  catalogue,  it  will  be  useless  to  attempt 
to  give  the  plain  facts  a  new  dress.  The  summary 
which  follows  is  taken  from  the  New  York  Ti?nes,  and 
may  be  supposed  to  be  impartial  : 

"  General  Logan  was  born  near  what  is  now  Mur- 
physboro',  Jackson  County,  111.,  February  9,  1824, 
and  is  the  eldest  of  eleven  children.  His  father,  Dr. 
John  Logan,  had  come  from  Ireland  to  Illinois  three 
years  before,  marrying  Elizabeth  Jenkins,  a  Tennessee 
lady.     John  received  his  early  education  from  his  father 


248  JOHN  A.    LOGAN. 

and  in  such  schools  as  the  locality  afforded  at  that  time. 
In  1840  he  was  for  a  few  months  one  of  the  students  of 
an  academy  called  Shiloh  College.  He  was  in  his  twen- 
tieth vear  when  the  Mexican  war  broke  out,  and  he  was 
among  the  first  to  volunteer.  He  was  chosen  lieuten- 
ant of  one  of  the  companies  of  the  First  Illinois  Regi- 
ment, and  was  subsequently  made  adjutant  of  the  regi- 
ment. He  returned  to  Illinois  in  October,  1848,  with 
an  excellent  record.  He  then  began  the  study  of  law 
in  the  office  of  his  uncle,  Alexander  M.  Jenkins,  for- 
merly Lieutenant-Governor  of  Illinois.  In  November, 
1844,  he  was  elected  Clerk  of  Jackson  County,  and  held 
the  office  until  the  following  year,  when  he  went  to 
Louisville  to  attend  lectures  in  the  Law  School.  Re- 
ceiving his  diploma  in  185 1,  he  was  admitted  to  the  Bar, 
and  formed  a  partnership  with  his  uncle.  He  had  many 
qualities  that  fitted  him  for  the  successful  practice  of 
law.  A  practical  mind,  clear  and  keen  perceptions, 
much  fertility  of  resource  and  unusual  ability  as  a  pub- 
lic speaker,  carried  him  at  once  to  the  front  rank  of  the 
legal  fraternity  of  his  immediate  field,  and  before  he 
had  been  a  year  in  practice,  he  was  elected  Prosecuting 
Attorney  of  the  Third  Judicial  District  of  the  State. 
He  then  lived  in  the  town  of  Benton. 

"It  was  at  the  fall  election  of  the  same  year  when  he 
was  chosen  to  the  State  Legislature  as  the  representa- 
tive of  Jackson  and  Franklin  Counties  that  the  long 
public  career  of  John  A.  Logan  had  its  actual  begin- 
ning.   Since  then  he  has  been  almost  constantly  in  the 


JOHN  A.    LOGAN-.  249 

civil  or  military  service  of  his  country.  He  was  re- 
elected to  the  State  Legislature  in  1853  and  1854,  and 
in  the  latter  year  was  a  Presidential  elector  and  cast  his 
vote  for  James  Buchanan.  Two  years  later  he  was 
elected  to  the  Thirty-sixth  Congress  by  the  Democrats 
of  the  Ninth  Congressional  District,  and  served  as 
chairman  of  the  Committee  on  Unfinished  Business. 
He  was  re-elected  in  i860,  the  year  of  the  Presidential 
campaign,  when  Abraham  Lincoln  was  nominated  by 
the  Republican  Convention  at  Chicago,  and  Stephen  A. 
Douglas  by  the  Democrats  at  Charleston.  John  A. 
Logan  was  a  Democrat,  and  warmly  advocated  the  elec- 
tion of  Mr.  Douglas,  but  when  the  events  of  the  suc- 
ceeding year  were  foreshadowed  in  the  attitude  of  the 
South,  his  patriotism,  which  could  not  be  subordinated 
to  partisanship,  asserted  itself,  and  he  openly  declared 
that  although  he  hoped  Mr.  Lincoln  would  not  be 
elected,  yet  if  he  were,  and  his  election  should  provoke 
an  outbreak  of  the  hostile  Southern  sentiment,  he 
"would  shoulder  his  musket  to  have  him  inaugurated." 
During  the  session  of  Congress  in  the  winter  of  1860-61 
Mr.  Logan  repeatedly  arraigned  the  Southern  members 
for  their  disloyalty,  and  asked  them  how  they  reconciled 
their  open  hostility  to  the  Government  with  their  oaths 
to  support  the  Constitution. 

"But  Mr.  Logan  was  not  destined  to  remain  long  on 
the  floor  of  Congress  when  hostilities  to  the  Union  of  a 
graver  sort  had  appeared  in  the  open  field.  He  attended 
the  special  session  of  Congress  called  by  Mr.  Lincoln  in 


250  JOHN  A.    LOGAN. 

the  early  summer  of  1861,  but  he  left  his  seat  in  July 
and  took  his  place  in  the  ranks  of  the  Union  forces, 
then  marching  on  to  meet  the  enemy  in  Virginia.  The 
battle  of  Bull  Run,  in  which  he  bore  a  brave  part, 
though  he  served  in  the  ranks,  proved  clearly  that  a 
much  larger  force  was  needed  to  crush  the  rebellion 
than  was  at  first  supposed.  Mr.  Logan  returned  to  Illi- 
nois, and  by  a  series  of  stirring  and  patriotic  appeals 
in  the  southern  part  of  the  State  rallied  thousands  of 
volunteers,  and  himself  joined  the  Thirty-first  Regiment 
of  Illinois  Infantry.  He  was  elected  colonel,  and  the 
regiment  was  mustered  into  service  on  the  13th  of  Sep- 
tember. The  regiment  was  attached  to  General  Mc- 
Clernand's  brigade,  and  w^as  first  under  fire  at  Belmont, 
seven  weeks  later.  In  this  engagement  Colonel  Logan 
led  a  timely  bayonet  charge,  which  broke  the  enemy's 
lines  and  saved  a  portion  of  the  command  from  capture. 
During  the  fight  he  had  a  horse  shot  under  him  and  a 
pistol  at  his  side  shattered  by  rebel  bullets.  He  led  the 
Thirty-first  at  Fort  Henry,  and  was  among  the  foremost 
in  the  gallant  assault  on  Fort  Donelson,  where  he  was 
severely  wounded  and  for  a  time  disabled  from  active 
service.  He  reported  for  duty,  after  his  recovery,  to 
General  Grant  at  Pittsburg  Landing,  and  not  long  after 
— March  5,  1862 — was  promoted  to  the  grade  of  Briga- 
dier-General of  Volunteers.  In  the  following  May  he 
showed  himself  a  brave  and  skilful  general  in  the  siege 
of  Corinth,  and  after  its  occupation  his  brigade  guarded 
the  rail  communications  with  Jackson,  Tenn. 


JOHN  A.    LOGAN.  25  I 

"During  the  summer  of  1862  he  was  importuned  to 
become  again  a  candidate  for  Congress,  but  declined 
in  a  letter  in  which  he  said  :  '  I  have  entered  the  field 
to  die,  if  need  be,  for  this  Government,  and  never  ex- 
pect to  return  to  peaceful  pursuits  until  the  object  of 
this  war  of  preservation  has  become  a  fact  established.' 
He  displayed  such  skill  and  bravery  in  Grant's  cam- 
paign of  the  Northern  Mississippi  in  1862  and  1863  that  he 
was  made  a  major-general,  the  commission  dating  from 
November  29,  1862.  As  the  commander  of  the  Third 
Division,  Seventeenth  Army  Corps,  under  General  Mc- 
Pherson,  he  took  part  in  the  battle  of  Fort  Gibson, 
fought  with  distinguished  personal  bravery  at  the  battle 
of  Raymond  on  the  12th  of  May,  helped  drive  the 
rebels  out  of  Jackson  two  days  later,  and  was  in  the  battle 
of  Champion  Hill,  May  11.  He  led  the  centre  of  Gen- 
eral McPherson's  command  at  the  siege  of  Vicksburg, 
and  his  column  first  entered  the  city  after  the  sur- 
render, July  4,  1863.  He  was  appointed  Military 
Governor  of  the  city,  where  a  gold  medal  was  pre- 
sented to  him,  the  boon  of  honor  of  the  Seventh  Army 
Corps.  He  visited  the  North  in  the  summer  of  that 
year,  and  made  several  eloquent  Union  speeches.  As 
a  specimen  of  those  speeches  the  following  extract 
from  one  delivered  at  Duquoin,  111.,  may  be  quoted  : 

"  *  The  Government  is  worth  fighting  for.  It  is  worth 
generations  and  centuries  of  war.  It  is  worth  the  lives 
of  the  best  and  noblest  men  in  the  land.  We  will  fight 
for  this  Government  for  the  sake  of  ourselves  and  our 


252  JOHN  A.    LOGAN. 

children.  Our  little  ones  shall  read  in  history  of  the  men 
who  stood  by  the  Government  in  its  dark  and  gloomy 
hours,  and  it  shall  be  the  proud  boast  of  many  that 
their  fathers  died  in  this  glorious  struggle  for  American 
liberty.  I  believe  to-day — I  believe  it  honestly — that  if 
the  people  of  the  North  were  united  and  all  stood  upon 
one  platform,  as  we  do  in  the  army,  this  rebellion  would 
be  crushed  in  ninety  days.  I  want  to  show  you  the 
reason  why  more  troops  ought  to  be  raised.  We  can 
crush  this  rebellion.  I  know  it.  Why,  we  have  marched 
a  little  army  clear  from  Cairo  to  Vicksburg  ;  below,  a 
small  one  has  marched  from  New  Orleans  to  Port 
Hudson.  We  have  opened  the  Mississippi  River.  We 
have  split  the  Confederacy  in  two,  leaving  on  one  side 
Texas,  Louisiana,  Arkansas,  and  Missouri — more  terri- 
tory than  is  on  the  eastern  side.  We  have  made  a  gulf 
that  is  impassable  for  them.  We  can  hurl  our  strength 
upon  one  half  and  whip  them,  then  upon  the  other  and 
whip  that.' 

"  He  was  stationed  at  Huntsville,  Ala.,  the  following 
winter,  having  succeeded  General  Sherman  as  com- 
mander of  the  Fifteenth  Army  Corps.  Early  in  the 
summer  of  1864,  the  Division  of  the  Mississippi  was 
making  ready  for  *  Sherman's  march  to  the  sea.*  Gen- 
eral Logan  led  the  Army  of  the  Tennessee  upon  the 
right  of  the  grand  march,  and  was  successively  engaged 
in  the  battle  at  Resaca,  in  the  repulse  of  Hardee's 
forces  at  Dallas,  at  Little  Kenesaw  Mountain,  and  in 
the  desperate  battle  of  Peach  Tree  Creek,  where  Gen- 


JOHN^  A.    LOGAN-.  253 

eral  McPherson  fell.  General  Logan  at  once  took 
command,  and  infusing  his  troops  with  the  emotions 
which  possessed  him  at  the  death  of  his  chief,  he  led  them 
with  such  desperate  fury  that  eight  thousand  rebel  dead 
were  left  on  the  field.  He  was  also  at  the  battle  of  Ezra 
Chapel,  July  28th.  In  fact,  he  participated  in  every  bat- 
tle of  that  historic  campaign,  from  Missionary  Ridge  to 
the  fall  of  Atlanta  on  the  2d  of  September.  After  those 
momentous  events.  General  Logan  returned  to  Illinois, 
and  during  the  fall  months  of  the  Presidential  cam- 
paign of  that  year  made  many  speeches  for  Lincoln  in 
the  Western  States.  He  joined  his  command  again  at 
Savannah,  and  marched  with  Sherman  through  the 
Garolinas,  and,  after  Johnston's  surrender,  to  Washing- 
ton. On  May  23,  1865,  he  was  appointed  to  succeed 
General  Howard  in  the  command  of  the  Army  of  the 
Tennessee. 

"Thus  ended  his  brilliant  army  career.  In  the  autumn 
of  1865  President  Johnson  offered  him  the  position  of 
Minister  to  Mexico,  which  he  declined,  and  in  1866  he 
was  nominated  by  the  Republicans  of  Illinois  to  repre- 
sent the  State  at  large  in  the  Fortieth  Congress,  and  was 
elected  by  over  sixty  thousand  majority.  He  was  one  of 
the  managers  on  the  part  of  the  House  in  the  impeach- 
ment trial  of  Andrew  Johnson,  in  the  spring  of  1867. 
He  was  returned  to  the  House  of  Representatives  by 
re-elections  in  1868  and  1870,  but  in  1871  was  elected  to 
the  United  States  Senate  to  succeed  Senator  Yates. 
His  first  term  as  Senator  expired  in  1877,  and  he  failed  of 


254  JOHX  A.    LOGAN. 

re-election,  David  Davis  being  chosen  in  his  stead.  The 
Republicans  in  the  Illinois  Legislature  then  had  only 
two  majority  on  joint  ballot,  and  three  of  the  Republi- 
cans voted  with  the  Democrats  for  Mr.  Davis.  Two 
years  later  General  Logan  was  more  successful.  He 
then  succeeded  to  the  seat  of  Richard  J.  Oglesby.  In 
the  Senate  he  has  introduced  and  supported  many  bills 
concerning  rewards  to  soldiers,  and  army  matters  in 
general.  At  military  reunions  he  has  always  been 
active.  He  was  one  of  the  founders  of  the  Grand  Army 
of  the  Republic,  which  originated  at  Decatur,  111.,  and 
was  its  first  national  commander.  Apart  from  these 
matters  he  has  acquired  in  public  life  a  special  repu- 
tation from  his  defence  of  the  findings  of  the  court  which 
tried  Fitz  John  Porter." 

The  soldier's  haversack  of  stories,  unpacked  before 
every  camp-fire,  has  in  these  days  of  peace  to  put  its 
treasures  into  type,  and  since  General  Logan's  nomina- 
tion those  who  remember  him  in  the  field  have  found 
the  public  journals  convenient  repositories.  Says  a  war 
correspondent  of  the  Neiv  York  Herald : 

"  Logan  belonged  to  the  class  of  popular  volunteer 
generals,  and  in  the  West  was  regarded  somewhat  as 
Phil  Kearney  was  in  the  East.  He  had  all  the  daring, 
dash,  and  pugnacity  of  Kearney  and  Hooker.  I  was 
with  him  nearly  all  the  day  before  the  battle  of  Resaca, 
Georgia,  on  May  14,  1864,  and  slept  in  an  ambulance 
with  him  the  same  night — that  is,  I  slept  part  of  the 
night  in  the  ambulance — but  he  was  so  thundering  mad 


JOHN  A.    LOGAN.  255 

when  awake,  and  so  restless  when  sleeping,  that,  for  my 
own  comfort,  I  got  up  and  lay  down  under  the  wagon 
on  the  ground.  I  never  saw  a  madder  man  than  Logan 
was  that  day  and  night.  He  had  the  advance  of 
McPherson's  corps  on  a  flank  movement  around  the 
left  of  the  rebel  army  at  Dalton,  and  had  planted  his  di- 
vision square  across  their  only  line  of  retreat.  Just  be- 
yond a  small  fordable  stream  the  rebels  had  built  a  fort 
commanding  a  bridge  of  great  importance  to  them, 
and  Logan  was  preparing  to  assault  it  when  McPherson, 
his  corps  commander,  came  up  and  stopped  the  move- 
ment, deeming  it  hazardous.  Logan  said  he  could 
carry  the  works  with  a  single  brigade  and  destroy  the 
bridge  with  his  two  other  brigades,  thus  cutting  off  the 
rebel  retreat  and  forcing  him  to  battle  with  Sherman's 
one  hundred  thousand  men — quite  double  that  of  the 
rebel  force.  He  pleaded  with  McPherson  to  let  him  go 
ahead,  proposing  to  lead  the  assaulting  column  in  per- 
son. From  pleading  he  advanced  to  protestations,  and 
then  to  curses  'both  loud  and  deep,'  and  these  became 
almost  bitter  personal  denunciations  of  McPherson 
when,  deciding  against  an  attack,  he  ordered  Logan  to 
march  back  six  miles  to  a  strong  defensive  position  and 
fortify  it. 

*'  It  happened  that  I  heard  part  of  this  rather  stormy 
interview,  and  the  same  evening  General  McPherson 
took  occasion  to  explain  to  me  that  he  had  made  this 
retrograde  movement  in  obedience  to  imperative  orders. 
It  turned  out  to  be  one  of  the  grave  mistakes  of  the 


256  JOHN-  A.    LOGAN. 

war,  and  Sherman  severely  criticised  McPherson  af- 
terward for  not  taking  the  risk  suggested  by  Logan, 
though  he  sustained  him  in  command.  Logan's  instinct 
for  fighting  proved  correct  on  that  occasion  ;  it  was 
subsequently  discovered  that  the  rebel  fort  at  Resaca 
was  held  by  only  sixteen  hundred  dismounted  Georgia 
militia  cavalrymen.  Logan's  veterans  could  have  *  run 
over  them'  if  McPherson  had  let  them  loose  with  *  Black 
Jack  '  at  their  head. 

"  One  of  the  finest  illustrations  of  the  magnetic  influ- 
ence of  a  single  man  in  the  crisis  of  a  battle  was  fur- 
nished by  Logan  at  Peach  Tree  Creek,  a  battle  fought 
before  Atlanta.  The  rebels  had  flanked  McPherson  as 
completely  as  he  had  turned  their  line  at  Resaca,  and 
had  attacked  him  vigorously.  McPherson  was  killed, 
and  the  command  of  the  whole  corps  unexpectedly  de- 
volved in  a  moment  on  Logan,  and  he  had  not  only  his 
own  but  other  divisions  to  look  after.  He  left  his  own 
immediate  command,  and  in  person  rallied  the  First  Di- 
vision, which,  being  surprised,  was  in  great  confusion. 
It  was  done  by  actual  personal  exertion  in  the  front  of 
the  line,  at  a  great  personal  risk.  The  troops  had  more 
confidence  in  Logan  than  in  McPherson,  for  the  reason 
that  Logan  led,  whereas  McPherson  directed  his  men  ; 
and  when  the  retreating  division  saw  Logan  riding 
along  their  confused  lines,  they  rallied  and  went  vigor- 
ously into  the  fight  with  a  counter-charge  on  the  rebel 
forces.  It  was  a  fair,  square  illustration  of  personal 
magnetism  of  a  fearless  leader  over  brave  men.     It  was 


JOHN-  A.    LOGAN.  25/ 

a  quality  many  of  the  generals  who  gained  greater  mil- 
itary distinction  than  Logan  did  not  possess,  and  did 
not  lay  claim  to." 

Lieutenant  Merriman,  who  for  a  time  was  General 
Logan's  secretary  in  the  war,  relates,  in  The  Waterbiiry 
American^  how  General  Logan  cashiered  his  own  brother- 
in-law,  Colonel  Osborne.  Orders  had  been  issued  to 
organize  negro  regiments.  The  report  came  to  Logan 
that  Osborne  had  publicly  declared  to  his  regiment  that 
he  had  not  come  there  "to  fight  to  free  the  niggers." 
"  Logan  at  once  sent  for  his  brother-in-law  to  come 
to  headquarters,"  says  Lieutenant  Merriman.  "I  was 
present  when  Osborne  arrived.  Logan  asked  him  if 
the  statements  were  true  that  he  had  been  talking  in 
that  way  to  his  regiment.  Osborne  replied  in  the  affirm- 
ative, and  repeated  the  sentiment.  Logan  roared  with 
rage  like  a  lion.  I  cannot  repeat  his  language,  but  the 
words  came  hot  and  thick  from  an  outraged  heart. 
Finally,  pausing,  he  told  Osborne  he  was  not  fit  to  com- 
mand a  Union  regiment,  and  to  write  out  his  resigna- 
tion at  once  and  be  cashiered.  Osborne,  abashed  and 
overawed,  obeyed,  and  Logan  wrote  approved  on  the 
back  of  the  paper  and  forwarded  it  immediately  by  an 
aide  to  General  Grant's  headquarters.  Before  night 
Osborne  was  without  a  commission,  out  of  the  army, 
and  reduced  to  the  position  of  a  mere  citizen  of  Illi- 
nois." 

A  considerable  part  of  the  committee  appointed  to 
inform  Mr.  Blaine  of  his  nomination  met  in  Washing- 


258  JOHN  A.    LOG  AM. 

ton  June  24,  1884.  These  were  :  Turner,  of  Alabama; 
Bush,  California  ;  Hastings,  Delaware  ;  Stewart,  Flor- 
ida ;  Brown,  Georgia  ;  Davis,  Illinois  ;  Goodloe,  Ken- 
tucky ;  Merchant,  Louisiana  ;  Walker  Blaine,  Maine  ; 
Gove,  Massachusetts  ;  Lynch,  Mississippi  ;  Howe,  Ne- 
braska ;  Young,  Nevada  ;  Phelps,  New  Jersey  ;  Win- 
ston, North  Carolina ;  Lee,  South  Carolina  ;  Houck, 
Tennessee  ;  Cuney,  Texas ;  Yost,  Virginia  ;  Thompson, 
West  Virginia  ;  Hill,  Washington  Territory  ;  Stebbins, 
Arizona ;  Pride,  Idaho  ;  Murray,  Utah ;  Meldrum, 
Wyoming  ;  Carson,  District  of  Columbia.  They  went 
in  a  body  to  General  Logan's  home,  and  being  gathered 
in  an  apartment  of  his  residence,  Chairman  Henderson 
said  : 

"  Senator  Logan  :  The  gentlemen  present  constitute 
a  committee  of  the  Republican  Convention  recently  as- 
sembled at  Chicago,  charged  with  the  duty  of  commu- 
nicating to  you  the  formal  notice  of  your  nomina- 
tion by  that  convention  as  a  candidate  for  Vice-Pres- 
ident of  the  United  States.  You  are  not  unaware  of  the 
fact  that  your  name  was  presented  to  the  convention 
and  urged  by  a  large  number  of  the  delegates  as  a  can- 
didate for  President.  So  soon,  however,  as  it  became 
apparent  that  Mr.  Blaine,  your  colleague  on  the  ticket, 
was  the  choice  of  the  party  for  that  high  office,  your 
friends,  with  those  of  other  competitors,  promptly 
yielded  their  individual  preferences  to  this  manifest 
wish  of  the  majority.  In  tendering  you  this  nomina- 
tion, we  are  able  to  assure  you  it  was  made  without 


JOIIh^  A.    LOGAN.  259 

opposition,  and  with  an  enthusiasm  seldom  witnessed 
in  the  history  of  nominating  conventions.  We  are  grat- 
ified to  know  that  in  a  career  of  great  usefulness  and 
distinction  you  have  most  efficiently  aided  in  the  enact- 
ment of  those  measures  of  legislation  and  of  constitu- 
tional reform  in  which  the  convention  found  special 
cause  for  party  congratulation.  The  principles  enun- 
ciated in  the  platform  adopted  will  be  recognized  by 
you  as  the  same  which  have  so  long  governed  and  con- 
trolled your  political  conduct. 

"The  pledges  made  by  the  party  find  guarantee  of  per- 
formance in  the  fidelity  with  which  you  have  heretofore 
discharged  every  trust  confided  to  your  keeping.  In 
your  election,  the  people  of  this  country  will  furnish 
new  proof  of  the  excellence  of  our  institutions.  With- 
out wealth,  without  help  from  others,  without  any  re- 
sources, except  those  of  heart,  conscience,  intellect, 
energy,  and  courage,  you  have  won  a  high  place  in  the 
world's  history,  and  secured  the  confidence  and  affec- 
tions of  your  countrymen.  Being  one  of  the  people, 
your  sympathies  are  with  the  people.  In  civil  life,  your 
chief  care  has  been  to  better  their  condition  to  secure 
their  rights  and  perpetuate  their  liberties.  When  the 
Government  w^as  threatened  by  armed  treason,  you  en- 
tered its  service  as  a  private,  became  a  commander  of 
armies,  and  are  now  the  idol  of  the  citizen-soldiers  of 
the  Republic.  Such,  in  the  judgment  of  your  party,  is 
the  candidate  it  has  selected,  and  in  behalf  of  that  party 
we  ask  you  to  accept  its  nomination." 


260  JOHN  A.    LOGAN. 

After  a  brief  interval  General  Logan  replied  : 
'*Mr.  Chairman  and  Gentlemen  of  the  Committee: 
I  receive  your  visit  with  pleasure  and  accept  with  grati- 
tude the  sentiments  you  have  so  generously  expressed 
in  the  discharge  of  the  duty  with  which  you  have  been 
intrusted  by  the  National  Republican  Convention.  In- 
tending to  address  you  a  formal  communication  shortly 
in  accordance  with  the  recognized  usage,  it  would  be 
out  of  place  to  detain  you  at  this  time  with  remarks 
which  properly  belong  to  the  official  utterances  of  a 
letter  of  acceptance.  I  may  be  permitted  to  say,  how- 
ever, that  though  I  did  not  seek  the  nomination  of 
Vice-President,  I  accept  it  as  a  trust  reposed  in  me  by 
the  Republican  party,  to  the  advancement  of  whose 
broad  policy  upon  all  questions  connected  with  the 
progress  of  our  Government  and  our  people,  I  have 
dedicated  my  best  energies,  and  with  this  acceptance  I 
may  properly  signify  my  approval  of  the  platform  of 
principles  adopted  by  the  convention.  I  am  deeply 
sensible  of  the  honor  conferred  upon  me  by  my  friends 
in  so  unanimously  tendering  me  this  nomination,  and  I 
sincerely  thank  them  for  this  tribute. 

"  I  am  not  unmindful  of  the  great  responsibilities  at- 
taching to  the  office,  and,  if  elected,  I  shall  enter  upon 
the  performance  of  its  duties  with  the  firm  conviction 
that  he  who  has  such  an  unanimous  support  of  his 
party  friends  as  the  circumstances  connected  with  the 
nomination  and  your  own  words,  Mr.  Chairman,  in- 
dicate, and  consequently  such  a  wealth  of  counsel  to 


JOHN  A.    LOGAN.  26 1 

draw  upon,  cannot  fail  in  the  proper  discharge  of  the 
duties  commended  to  him. 

"  I  tender  you  my  thanks,  Mr.  Chairman,  for  the  kind 
expressions  you  have  made,  and  I  offer  you  and  your 
fellow-committeemen  my  most  cordial  greeting." 

Mrs.  Logan  was  appropriately  present  at  these  cere- 
monies, for  more  than  is  often  given  to  women  she  has 
been  the  close  companion  of  her  husband.  She  has  ac- 
tively shared  his  successes,  and  General  Logan  would 
perhaps  say  that  she  has  inspired  them. 
17 


APPENDIX   A. 

THE    PLATFORM    OF    THE    REPUBLICAN 

PARTY— 1884. 

The  Republicans  of  the  United  States  in  National 
Convention  assembled  renew  their  allegiance  to  the 
principles  upon  which  they  have  triumphed  in  six  suc- 
cessive Presidential  elections,  and  congratulate  the 
American  people  on  the  attainment  of  so  many  results 
in  legislation  and  administration  by  which  the  Repub- 
lican party  has,  after  saving  the  Union,  done  so  much 
to  render  its  institutions  just,  equal,  and  beneficent — 
the  safeguard  of  liberty  and  the  embodiment  of  the 
best  thought  and  highest  purposes  of  our  citizens. 
The  Republican  party  has  gained  its  strength  by  quick 
and  faithful  response  to  the  demands  of  the  people  for 
the  freedom  and  the  equality  of  all  men  ;  for  a  united 
nation,  assuring  the  rights  of  all  citizens  ;  for  the  ele- 
vation of  labor  ;  for  an  honest  currency  ;  for  purity  in 
legislation,  and  for  integrity  and  accountability  in  all 
departments  of  the  Government  ;  and  it  accepts  anew 
the  duty  of  leading  in  the  work  of  progress  and  reform. 

We  lament  the  death  of   President  Garfield,  whose 


264  APPENDIX. 

sound  statesmanship,  long  conspicuous  in  Congress, 
gave  promise  of  a  strong  and  successful  administration, 
a  promise  fully  realized  during  the  short  period  of  his 
office  as  President  of  the  United  States.  His  distin- 
guished success  in  war  and  in  peace  has  endeared  him 
to  the  hearts  of  the  American  people. 

In  the  administration  of  President  Arthur  we  recog- 
nize a  wise,  conservative,  and  patriotic  policy,  under 
which  the  country  has  been  blessed  with  remarkable 
prosperity,  and  we  believe  his  eminent  services  are  en- 
titled to  and  will  receive  the  hearty  approval  of  every 
citizen. 

It  is  the  first  duty  of  a  good  government  to  protect 
the  rights  and  promote  the  interests  of  its  own  people. 
The  largest  diversity  of  industry  is  most  productive  of 
general  prosperity  and  of  the  comfort  and  independence 
of  the  people.  We  therefore  demand  that  the  imposi- 
tion of  duties  on  foreign  imports  shall  be  made,  not 
for  revenue  only,  but  that  in  raising  the  requisite 
revenues  for  the  Government  such  duties  shall  be  so 
levied  as  to  afford  security  to  our  diversified  industries 
and  protection  to  the  rights  and  wages  of  the  laborer, 
to  the  end  that  active  and  intelligent  labor,  as  well  as 
capital,  may  have  its  just  reward,  and  the  laboring  man 
his  full  share  in  the  national  prosperity. 

Against  the  so-called  economic  system  of  the  Dem- 
ocratic party  which  would  degrade  our  labor  to  the  for- 
eign standard,  we  enter  our  earnest  protest.  The  Dem- 
ocratic party  has  failed  completely  to  relieve  the  people 


APPEXDIX.  265 

of  the  burden  of  unnecessary  taxation  by  a  wise  reduc- 
tion of  the  surplus. 

The  Republican  party  pledges  itself  to  correct  the 
inequalities  of  the  tariff,  and  to  reduce  the  surplus,  not 
by  the  vicious  and  indiscriminate  process  of  horizontal 
reduction,  but  by  such  methods  as  will  relieve  the  tax- 
payer without  injuring  the  laborer  or  the  great  product- 
ive interests  of  the  country. 

We  recognize  the  importance  of  sheep  husbandry  in 
the  United  States,  the  serious  depression  which  it  is 
now  experiencing,  and  the  danger  threatening  its  future 
prosperity  ;  and  we  therefore  respect  the  demands  of 
the  representatives  of  this  important  agricultural  inter- 
est for  a  readjustment  of  duty  upon  foreign  wool,  in 
order  that  such  industry  shall  have  full  and  adequate 
protection. 

We  have  always  recommended  the  best  money  known 
to  the  civilized  world,  and  we  urge  that  an  effort  be 
made  to  unite  all  commercial  nations  in  the  establish- 
ment of  an  international  standard,  which  shall  fix  for 
all  the  relative  value  of  gold  and  silver  coinage. 

The  regulation  of  commerce  with  foreign  nations  and 
between  the  States  is  one  of  the  most  important  prero- 
gatives of  the  General  Government,  and  the  Republican 
party  distinctly  announces  its  purpose  to  support  such 
legislation  as  will  fully  and  efficiently  carry  out  the  con- 
stitutional power  of  Congress  over  interstate  commerce. 

The  principle  of  the  public  regulation  of  railway  cor- 
porations is  a  wise  and  salutary  one  for  the  protection 


266  APPENDIX. 

of  all  classes  of  the  people,  and  we  favor  legislation 
that  shall  prevent  unjust  discrimination  and  excessive 
charges  for  transportation,  and  that  shall  secure  to  the 
people  and  to  the  railways  alike  the  fair  and  equal  pro- 
tection of  the  laws. 

We  favor  the  establishment  of  a  national  bureau  of 
labor,  the  enforcement  of  the  eight-hour  law,  and  a 
wise  and  judicious  system  of  general  education  by  ade- 
quate appropriation  from  the  national  revenues  wher- 
ever the  same  is  needed.  We  believe  that  everywhere 
the  protection  to  a  citizen  of  American  birth  must  be 
secured  to  citizens  of  American  adoption,  and  we  favor 
the  settlement  of  national  differences  by  international 
arbitration. 

The  Republican  party,  having  its  birth  in  a  hatred  of 
slave  labor  and  in  a  desire  that  all  men  may  be  free  and 
equal,  is  unalterably  opposed  to  placing  our  working- 
men  in  competition  with  any  form  of  servile  labor, 
whether  at  home  or  abroad.  In  this  spirit  we  denounce 
the  importation  of  contract  labor,  whether  from  Europe 
or  Asia,  as  an  offence  against  the  spirit  of  American  in- 
stitutions, and  we  pledge  ourselves  to  sustain  the  pres- 
ent law  restricting  Chinese  immigration,  and  to  provide 
such  further  legislation  as  is  necessary  to  carry  out  its 
purposes. 

The  reform  of  the  civil  service,  auspiciously  begun 
under  Republican  administration,  should  be  completed 
by  the  further  extension  of  the  reformed  system,  already 
established  by  law,  to  all  the  grades  of  the  service  to 


APPENDIX.  267 

which  it  is  applicable.  The  spirit  and  purpose  of  the 
reform  should  be  observed  in  all  executive  appoint- 
ments, and  all  laws  at  variance  with  the  objects  of  exist- 
ing reformed  legislation  should  be  repealed,  to  the  end 
that  the  danger  to  free  institutions  which  lurks  in  the 
power  of  official  patronage  may  be  wisely  and  effective- 
ly avoided. 

The  public  lands  are  a  heritage  of  the  people  of  the 
United  States,  and  should  be  reserved,  as  far  as  possi- 
ble, for  small  holdings  by  actual  settlers.  We  are  op- 
posed to  the  acquisition  of  large  tracts  of  these  lands 
by  corporations  or  individuals,  especially  where  such 
holdings  are  in  the  hands  of  non-resident  aliens,  and  we 
will  endeavor  to  obtain  such  legislation  as  will  tend  to 
correct  this  evil.  We  demand  of  Congress  the  speedy 
forfeiture  of  all  land  grants  which  have  lapsed  by  reason 
of  non-compliance  with  acts  of  incorporation,  in  all 
cases  where  there  has  been  no  attempt  in  good  faith  to 
perform  the  conditions  of  such  grants. 

The  grateful  thanks  of  the  American  people  are  due 
to  the  Union  soldiers  and  sailors  of  the  late  war,  and 
the  Republican  party  stands  pledged  to  suitable  pen- 
sions for  all  who  were  disabled  and  for  the  widows  and 
orphans  of  those  who  died  in  the  war.  The  Republican 
party  also  pledges  itself  to  the  repeal  of  the  limitation 
contained  in  the  arrears  act  of  1879,  so  that  all  invalid 
soldiers  shall  share  alike,  and  their  pensions  shall  begin 
with  the  date  of  disability  or  discharge,  and  not  with 
the  date  of  their  application. 


268  APPENDIX. 

The  Republican  party  favors  a  policy  which  shall 
keep  us  from  entangling  alliances  with  foreign  nations, 
and  which  shall  give  the  right  to  expect  that  foreign 
nations  shall  refrain  from  meddling  in  American  affairs 
— the  policy  which  seeks  peace  and  can  trade  with  all 
powers,  but  especially  with  those  of  the  western  hemi- 
sphere. 

We  demand  the  restoration  of  our  navy  to  its  old- 
time  strength  and  efficiency,  that  it  may,  in  any  sea, 
protect  the  rights  of  American  citizens  and  the  interests 
of  American  commerce,  and  we  call  upon  Congress  to 
remove  the  burdens  under  which  American  shipping 
has  been  depressed,  so  that  it  may  again  be  true  that 
we  have  a  commerce  which  leaves  no  sea  unexplored 
and  a  navy  which  takes  no  law  from  superior  force. 

Resolved^  That  appointments  by  the  President  to 
offices  in  the  Territories  should  be  made  from  the  bona 
fide  citizens  and  residents  of  the  Territories  wherein 
they  are  to  serve. 

Resolved^  That  it  is  the  duty  of  Congress  to  enact  such 
laws  as  shall  promptly  and  effectually  suppress  the  sys- 
tem of  polygamy  within  our  territory,  and  divorce  the 
political  from  the  ecclesiastical  power  of  the  so-called 
Mormon  Church,  and  that  the  law  so  enacted  should  be 
rigidly  enforced  by  the  civil  authorities  if  possible,  and 
by  the  military  if  need  be. 

The  people  of  the  United  States,  in  their  organized 
capacity,  constitute  a  nation  and  not  a  mere  confed- 
eracy of  States.     The  National  Government  is  supreme 


APPENDIX.  269 

within  the  sphere  of  its  national  duty,  but  the  States 
have  reserved  rights  which  should  be  faithfully  main- 
tained; each  should  be  guarded  with  jealous  care  so 
that  the  harmony  of  our  system  of  government  may  be 
preserved  and  the  Union  be  kept  inviolate.  The  per- 
petuity of  our  institutions  rests  upon  the  maintenance 
of  a  free  ballot,  an  honest  count,  and  correct  returns. 

We  denounce  the  fraud  and  violence  practised  by  the 
Democracy  in  Southern  States  by  which  the  will  of  the 
voter  is  defeated,  as  dangerous  to  the  preservation  of 
free  institutions,  and  we  solemnly  arraign  the  Demo- 
cratic party  as  being  the  guilty  recipient  of  the  fruits 
of  such  fraud  and  violence.  We  extend  to  the  Republi- 
cans of  the  South,  regardless  of  their  former  party  affil- 
iations, our  cordial  sympathy,  and  pledge  to  them  our 
utmost  earnest  efforts  to  promote  the  passage  of  such 
legislation  as  will  secure  to  every  citizen,  of  whatever 
race  and  color,  the  full  and  complete  recognition,  pos- 
session, and  exercise  of  all  civil  and  political  rights. 


APPENDIX   B. 

SPEECH  OF  MR.   BLAINE  IN  THE  HOUSE   ON 
NATIONAL  FINANCE,  FEBRUARY  lo,  1876. 

Mr.  Chairman  :  The  honor  of  the  National  Govern- 
ment and  the  prosperity  of  the  American  people  are 
alike  menaced  by  those  who  demand  the  perpetuation 
of  the  irredeemable  paper  currency.  For  more  than  two 
years  the  country  has  been  suffering  from  prostration  in 
business  ;  confidence  returns  but  slowly  ;  trade  revives 
only  partially,  and  to-day,  with  capital  unproductive  and 
labor  unemployed,  we  find  ourselves  in  the  midst  of  an 
agitation  respecting  the  miedium  with  which  business 
transactions  shall  be  carried  on.  Until  this  question  is 
definitely  adjusted,  it  is  idle  to  expect  that  full  measure 
of  prosperity  to  which  the  energies  of  our  people  and 
the  resources  of  the  land  entitle  us.  In  the  way  of  that 
adjustment  one  great  section  of  the  Democratic  party — 
possibly  its  controlling  power — stubbornly  stands  to-day. 
The  Republicans,  always  true  to  the  primal  duty  of  sup- 
porting the  nation's  credit,  have  now  cast  behind  them 
all  minor  differences  and  dissensions  on  the  financial 


APPF.XDIX.  271 

question,  and  have  gradually  consolidated  their  strength 
against  inflation.  The  currency,  therefore,  becomes  of 
necessity  a  prominent  political  issue,  and  those  Demo- 
crats who  are  in  favor  of  honest  dealing  by  the  Govern- 
ment and  honest  money  for  the  people  may  be  compelled 
to  act  as  they  did  in  that  still  graver  exigency  when  the 
existence  of  the  Government  itself  was  at  stake. 

While  this  question  should  be  approached  in  no  spirit 
of  partisan  bitterness,  it  has  yet  become  so  entangled 
with  party  relations  that  no  intelligent  discussion  of  it 
can  be  had  without  giving  its  political  history,  and  if 
that  history  bears  severely  on  the  Democratic  party,  its 
defenders  must  answer  the  facts  and  not  quarrel  with 
their  presentation.  Firmly  attached  to  one  political  party 
myself,  firmly  believing  that  parties  in  a  free  govern- 
ment are  as  healthful  as  they  are  inevitable,  I  still  think 
there  are  questions  about  which  parties  should  never 
agree  to  disagree  ;  and  of  these  is  the  essential  nature 
and  value  of  the  circulating  medium.  And  it  is  a  fact 
of  special  weight  and  significance  that  up  to  the  paper- 
money  era  which  was  precipitated  upon  us  during  the 
rebellion  as  one  of  war's  inexorable  necessities,  there 
never  was  a  political  party  in  this  country  that  believed 
in  any  other  than  the  specie  standard  for  our  currency. 
If  there  was  any  one  principle  that  was  rooted  and 
grounded  in  the  minds  of  our  earlier  statesmen,  it  was 
the  evil  of  paper  money  ;  and  no  candid  man  of  any 
party  can  read  the  Constitution  of  the  United  States  and 
not  be  convinced  that  its  framers  intended  to  defend 


2/2  APPENDIX. 

and  protect  our  people  from  the  manifold  perils  of  an 
irredeemable  currency. 

The  country  is  suffering  under  one  of  those  periodi- 
cal revulsions  in  trade  common  to  all  commercial  na- 
tions, and  which  thus  far  no  wisdom  of  legislation  has 
been  able  to  avert.  The  natural  restlessness  of  a  peo- 
ple so  alive  and  alert  as  ours  looks  for  an  instant  remed\% 
and  the  danger  in  such  a  condition  of  the  public  mind 
is  that  something  may  be  adopted  that  will  ultimately 
deepen  the  disease  rather  than  lay  the  groundwork  for 
an  effectual  cure.  Naturally  enough,  at  such  a  time 
the  theories  for  relief  are  numerous,  and  we  have  mar- 
vellous recipes  offered  whereby  the  people  shall  be  en- 
abled to  pay  the  dollar  they  owe  with  less  than  loo 
cents  ;  while  those  who  are  caught  with  such  a  delusion 
seemingly  forget  that,  even  if  this  be  so,  they  must  like- 
wise receive  less  than  loo  cents  for  the  dollar  that  is 
due  them.  Whether  the  dollar  that  they  owe  to-day 
or  the  dollar  that  is  due  them  to-morrow  will  have  the 
greater  or  less  number  of  cents  depends  on  the  shifting 
of  causes  which  they  can  neither  control  nor  foresee ; 
and  therefore  all  certain  calculation  in  trade  is  set  at 
defiance,  and  those  branches  of  business  which  take  on 
the  form  of  gambling  are  by  a  financial  paradox  most 
secure  and  most  promising. 

THE    DEPRESSION    OF   TRADE. 

Uncertainty  as  to  the  value  of  the  currency  from  day 
to  day  is  injurious  to  all   honest  industry.     And  while 


APPENDIX.  273 

that  which  is  known  as  the  debtor  interest  should  be 
fairly  and  justly  considered  in  the  shaping  of  the  meas- 
ure for  specie  resumption,  there  is  no  justice  in  asking 
for  inflation  on  its  behalf.  Rather  there  is  the  gravest 
injustice  ;  for  you  must  remember  that  there  is  a  large 
class  of  most  deserving  persons  who  would  be  continu- 
ally and  remorselessly  robbed  by  such  a  policy.  I  mean 
the  labor  of  the  country  that  is  compelled  to  live  from 
and  by  its  daily  earnings.  The  savings  banks,  which  rep- 
resent the  surplus  owned  by  the  laborers  of  the  nation, 
have  deposits  to-day  exceeding  $1,100,000,000 — more 
than  the  entire  capital  stock  and  deposits  of  the  Na- 
tional banks.  The  pensioners,  who  represent  the  patriotic 
suffering  of  the  country,  have  a  capitalized  investment 
of  $600,000,000.  Here  are  $1,700,000,000  incapable  of 
receiving  anything  but  instant  and  lasting  injury  from 
inflation.  Whatever  impairs  the  purchasing  power  of 
the  dollar  correspondingly  decreases  the  resources  of 
the  savings-bank  depositor  and  the  pensioner.  The 
pensioner's  loss  would  be  absolute,  but  it  would  prob- 
ably be  argued  that  the  laborer  would  receive  compen- 
sation by  his  nominally  larger  earnings.  But  this  would 
prove  totally  delusive,  for  no  possible  augmentation  of 
wages  in  a  time  of  inflation  will  ever  keep  pace  with  a 
still  greater  increase  in  the  price  of  the  commodities 
necessary  to  sustain  life,  except — and  mark  the  excep- 
tion— under  the  condition  witnessed  during  the  war, 
when  the  number  of  laborers  was  continually  reduced  by 
the  demand  for  men  to  serve  in  the  army  and  navy. 


274  APPENDIX. 

And  those  honest-minded  people  who  recall  the  start- 
ling activity  of  trade  and  the  large  profits  during  the 
war,  and  attribute  both  to  an  inflated  currency,  commit 
the  error  of  leaving  out  the  most  important  element  of 
the  calculation.  They  forget  that  the  Government  was 
a  customer  for  nearly  four  years  at  the  rate  of  $2,000,- 
000  or  $3,000,000  per  day,  buying  countless  quantities 
of  all  the  staple  articles  ;  they  forget  that  the  number 
of  consumers  was  continually  enlarging  as  our  armed 
force  grew  to  its  gigantic  proportions,  and  that  the 
number  of  producers  was  by  the  same  cause  continually 
growing  less,  and  that  there  was  presented,  on  a  scale 
of  unprecedented  magnitude,  that  simple  problem,  fa- 
miliar alike  to  the  political  economist  and  the  village 
trader,  of  the  demand  being  greater  than  the  supply, 
and  a  consequent  rise  in  the  price.  Had  the  Govern- 
ment been  able  to  conduct  the  war  on  a  gold  basis  and 
provided  the  coin  for  its  necessarily  large  and  lavish  ex- 
penditure, a  rise  in  the  price  of  labor  and  a  rise  in  the 
value  of  commodities  would  have  been  inevitable.  And 
the  rise  of  both  labor  and  commodities  in  gold  would 
have  been  for  the  time  as  marked  as  in  paper,  adding, 
of  course,  the  depreciation  of  the  latter  to  its  scale  of 
prices.  While  the  delusion  of  creating  wealth  by  the 
issue  of  irredeemable  paper  currency  may  lead  to  any 
number  of  absurd  propositions,  the  advocates  of  the 
heresy  seem  to  have  settled  down  on  two  measures — or 
rather  one  measure  composed  of  two  parts — namely  :  To 
abolish  the  National  Banks,  and  then  have  the  Govern- 


APPENDIX.  275 

ment  issue  legal  tenders  at  once  to  the  amount  of  the 
bank  circulation,  and  add  to  the  volume  thereafter,  from 
time  to  time,  **  according  to  the  wants  of  trade."  The 
two  propositions  are  so  inseparably  connected  that  I 
shall  discuss  them  together. 


THE  NATIONAL  BANK  SYSTEM. 

The  National  Bank  System,  Mr.  Chairman,  was  one 
of  the  results  of  the  war,  and  the  credit  of  its  origin  be- 
longs to  the  late  Salmon  P.  Chase,  then  Secretary  of 
the  Treasury.  And  it  may  not  be  unprofitable  just 
here  to  recall  to  the  House  the  circumstances  which,  at 
that  time,  made  the  National  Banks  a  necessity  to  the 
Government.  At  the  outbreak  of  the  war  there  were 
considerably  over  a  thousand  State  Banks,  of  different 
degrees  of  responsibility  or  irresponsibility,  scattered 
over  the  country.  Their  charters  demanded  the  redemp- 
tion o^"  their  bills  in  specie,  and  under  the  pressure  of 
this  requirement  their  aggregate  circulation  was  kept 
within  decent  limits ;  but  the  amount  of  it  was  left,  in 
most  instances,  to  the  discretion  of  the  directors,  and 
not  a  few  of  these  banks  issued  ten  dollars  of  bills  for 
one  of  specie  in  their  vaults.  With  the  passage  of  the 
legal-tender  act,  however,  followed  by  an  enormous  is- 
sue of  Government  notes,  the  State  Banks  would  no 
longer  be  required  to  redeem  in  specie,  and  would, 
therefore,  at  once  flood  the  country  with  their  own  bills, 
and  take  from  the  Government  its  resource  in  that  di- 


2/6  APPENDIX. 

rection.  To  restrict  and  limit  their  circulation,  and  to 
make  the  banks  as  helpful  as  possible  in  the  great  work . 
of  sustaining  the  Government's  finances,  the  National 
Bank  act  was  passed.  This  act  required,  in  effect,  that 
every  bank  should  loan  its  entire  capital  stock  to  the 
Government,  or,  in  other  words,  invest  it  in  Govern- 
ment bonds  ;  and  that,  on  depositing  these  bonds  with 
the  Treasurer  of  the  United  States,  the  bank  might  re- 
ceive not  exceeding  ninety  per  cent,  of  this  amount  in 
circulating  notes,  the  Government  holding  the  bonds 
for  the  protection  of  the  bill-holder  in  case  the  bank 
should  fail.  And  that,  in  brief,  is  precisely  what  a  Na- 
tional Bank  is  to-day.  I  do  not  say  the  system  is  per- 
fect, I  do  not  feel  called  upon  to  rush  to  its  advocacy 
or  defence.  I  do  not  doubt  as  we  go  forward  we  may 
find  many  points  in  which  the  system  maybe  improved. 
But  this  I  am  bold  to  maintain  :  That,  contrasted  with 
any  other  system  of  banking  that  this  country  has  ever 
had,  it  is  immeasurably  superior  ;  and  whoever  asks, 
as  some  Democrats  now  do,  for  its  abolition,  with  a  view 
of  getting  back  any  system  of  State  Banks,  is  a  blind 
leader  ;  and  a  very  deep  ditch  of  disorder  and  disaster 
awaits  the  followers,  if  the  people  should  ever  be  so 
blind  as  to  take  that  fatal  step.  It  is  greatly  to  be  de- 
plored, Mr.  Chairman,  that  many  candid  men  have  con- 
ceived the  notion  that  it  would  be  saving  to  the  people 
if  all  banks  could  be  dispensed  with  and  the  circulating 
medium  be  furnished  by  the  Government  issuing  legal 
tenders.     I  do  not  stop  here  to  argue  that  this  would  be 


APPENDIX.  277 

in  violation  of  tiie  Government's  pledge  not  to  issue 
more  than  $400,000,000  of  its  own  notes.  I  merely  re- 
mark that  that  pledge  is  binding  in  honor  until  legal 
tenders  are  redeemable  in  coin  on  presentation ;  and 
when  that  point  is  reached,  there  will  be  no  desire,  as 
certainly  there  will  be  no  necessity,  for  the  Government 
issuing  additional  notes.  The  great  and,  to  my  mind, 
unanswerable  objection  to  this  scheme  is  that  it  places 
the  currency  wholly  in  the  power  and  under  the  direc- 
tion of  Congress.  Now,  Congress  always  has  been, 
and  always  will  be,  governed  by  a  partisan  majority, 
representing  one  of  the  political  parties  of  the  country, 
and  the  proposition,  therefore,  reduces  itself  to  this — 
that  the  circulating  medium,  instead  of  having  a  fixed, 
determinate  value,  shall  be  shifted,  and  changed,  and 
manipulated  according  to  the  supposed  needs  of  "  the 
party."  I  profess,  Mr.  Chairman,  to  have  some  knowl- 
edge of  the  American  Congress  ;  its  general  character  ; 
its  personnel,  its  scope,  its  power.  I  think,  on  the 
whole,  it  is  a  far  more  patriotic,  intelligent,  and  upright 
body  of  men  than  it  generally  gets  credit  for  in  the 
country  ;  but  at  the  same  time  I  can  conceive  of  no  as- 
semblage of  reputable  gentlemen  in  the  United  States 
more  utterly  unfitted  to  determine  from  time  to  time 
the  amount  of  circulation  required  by  the  *' wants  of 
trade."  But  indeed,  no  body  of  men  could  be  entrusted 
with  that  power.  Even  if  it  were  possible  to  trust  their 
discretion,  their  integrity  would  be  constantly  under 
suspicion.     If  they  performed  their  duties  with  the  pu- 


2/8  APPENDIX. 

rity  of  an  angel  of  light,  they  could  not  successfully 
repel  those  charges  which  always  follow  where  the 
temptation  to  do  wrong  is  powerful  and  the  way  easy. 
Experience  would  very  soon  demonstrate  that  no  more 
corrupting  device,  no  wilder  or  more  visionary  project, 
ever  entered  the  brain  of  the  schemer  or  the  empiric. 

If  the  people  of  the  United  States  were  fully  awake 
and  aroused  to  their  interests,  and  could  see  things  as 
they  are,  instead  of  increasing  the  power  of  Congress 
over  the  currency  they  would  by  the  shortest  practi- 
cable process  divorce  the  two,  completely  and  forever. 
And  this  can  be  done  finally,  effectually,  irreversibly  by 
the  resumption  of  specie  payment.  Why,  it  is  hardly  an 
exaggeration  to  say  that  ever  since  the  Government 
was  compelled  to  resort  to  irredeemable  currency  dur- 
ing the  war,  the  assembling  of  Congress  and  its  con- 
tinuance in  session  have  been  the  most  disturbing  ele- 
ments in  the  business  of  the  country.  It  is  literally 
true  that  no  man  can  tell  what  a  day  may  bring  forth. 
One  large  interest  looks  hopefully  to  contraction  and 
the  lowering  of  the  gold  premium  ;  another  is  ruined 
unless  there  is  such  a  movement  toward  expansion  as 
will  send  gold  up.  Each  side,  of  course,  endeavors  to 
influence  and  convince  Congress.  Both  sides  naturally 
have  their  sympathizing  advocates  on  this  floor,  and 
hence  the  substantial  interests  of  the  country  are  kept 
in  a  feverish,  doubtful,  speculative  state.  Men's  minds 
are  turned  from  honest  industry  to  schemes  of  financial 
gambling,  the  public  morals  suffer,   old-fashioned  in- 


APPENDIX.  279 

tegrity  is  forgotten,  enduring  prosperity  with  honest 
gains  and  quiet  contentment  is  rendered  impossible. 
We  have  suffered  thus  far  in  perhaps  as  light  a  degree 
as  could  be  expected  under  the  circumstances  ;  but 
once  adopt  the  insane  idea  that  all  currency  shall  be 
issued  directly  by  the  Government,  and  that  Congress 
shall  be  the  judge  of  the  amount  demanded  by  "  the 
wants  of  trade,"  and  you  have  this  country  adrift,  rud- 
derless, on  a  sea  of  troubles  shoreless  and  soundless. 

THE  LEGAL-TENDER  CLAUSE  NECESSARY. 

But  whether  we  shall  succeed  or  shall  fail  in  restor- 
ing to  United  States  notes  the  funding  privilege  with 
which  they  were  originally  endowed,  I  must  here  record 
my  earnest  protest  against  the  policy  of  repealing  the 
legal-tender  clause  which  has  given  to  these  notes  their 
great  strength  as  a  circulating  medium.  I  cannot  see 
how  the  Government  can  consistently  deprive  them  of 
their  legal-tender  quality  until  it  is  ready  to  redeem 
them  in  coin  on  presentation ;  and  when  it  is  so  ready 
to  redeem  them,  what  need  or  advantage  will  there  be 
in  raising  the  question  ?  And  I  have  never  heard  any 
argument  at  all  satisfactory  to  my  mind  that  the  repeal 
of  the  legal-tender  clause  would  tend  to  make  re- 
sumption any  easier.  On  the  contrary,  it  seems  to  me 
that  it  would  render  resumption  far  more  difficult  than 
it  will  otherwise  prove  ;  that  it  would  throw  an  undue 
share  of  the  burden  on  the  banks  :  that  it  would  force 


2  do  APPENDIX. 

them  into  the  most  rigid  contraction,  and  needlessly 
cripple  their  power  of  discount,  thus  plunging  the  whole 
country  into  confusion,  disturbing  credits,  embarrass- 
ing payments,  fatally  deranging  business,  and  creating 
wide-spread  distress  among  the  people.  It  would  be  a 
peculiarly  severe  blow  to  the  debtor  class,  and  would 
make  resumption  to  them  the  signal  of  bankruptcy 
and  ruin.  All  wise  legislation  toward  resumption  will 
take  care  that  no  needless  burden  be  thrown  on  those 
who  have  debts  to  pay,  and  that  in  the  transition  the 
banks  shall  be  kept  in  such  a  condition  as  shall  make 
them  as  helpful  as  possible  to  the  general  community. 
But  this  policy  would  drive  the  banks  into  a  struggle 
for  self-preservation  in  which  debtors  would  necessarily 
be  sacrificed.  If  I  correctly  apprehend  the  sound  pub- 
lic judgment  on  this  question,  there  is  no  desire  to  de- 
stroy the  legal-tender  character  of  the  note,  but  a  settled 
determination  to  bring  it  to  a  par  with  coin,  and  by  this 
means  to  bring  every  bank-note  to  the  same  standard. 
This  policy  will  restore  the  coin  of  the  country,  of 
which  we  are  producing  eighty  millions  per  annum,  to 
active  circulation  in  the  channels  of  trade,  and  will  re- 
sult not  only  in  making  our  money  better,  but  assured- 
ly more  plentiful  among  the  people. 

It  is  a  humiliating  fact  that  producing  as  w^e  do  a  far 
larger  amount  of  precious  metals  than  all  the  rest  of 
the  world,  we  drive  it  into  export  because  w^e  will 
not  create  a  demand  for  it  at  home.  And  the  miners 
of  the  Pacific  slope  are  furnishing  the  circulating  me^ 


APPE.VDIX,  281 

dium  for  every  country  of  the  civilized  world  except 
their  own,  whose  financial  policy  to-day  outlaws  and 
expatriates  the  product  of  their  labor.  The  act  pro- 
viding for  resumption  in  1879  requires,  in  the  judg- 
ment of  the  Secretary  of  the  Treasury,  some  additional 
legislation  to  make  it  practical  and  effective.  As  it 
stands,  it  fixes  a  date  but  gives  no  adequate  process, 
and  the  paramount  duty  of  Congress  is  to  provide  a 
process.  And  in  all  legislation  looking  to  that  end  it 
must  be  borne  in  mind  that,  unless  we  move  in  harmony 
with  the  great  business  interests  of  the  country,  we 
shall  assuredly  fail.  Specie  payment  can  only  be 
brought  about  by  wise  and  well-considered  legislation, 
based  on  the  experience  of  other  nations,  embodying 
the  matured  wisdom  of  the  country,  healthfully  promot- 
ing all  legitimate  business,  and  carefully  avoiding 
everything  that  may  tend  to  create  fear  and  mistrust 
among  the  people.  In  other  words,  as  the  outgrowth 
of  legislation  is  confidence,  public  and  private,  general 
and  individual.  To-day  we  are  suffering  from  the  tim- 
idity of  capital,  and  so  long  as  the  era  of  doubt  and  un- 
certainty prevails,  that  timidity  will  continue  and  in- 
crease. Steps  toward  inflation  will  make  it  chronic  ; 
unwise  steps  toward  resumption  will  not  remove  it. 

We  will  have  discharged  our  full  duty  in  Congress,  if 
we  can  mature  a  measure  which  will  steadily  advance 
our  currency  to  the  specie  standard,  and  at  the  same 
time  work  in  harmony  with  the  reviving  industries  and 
great  commercial  wants  of  the  country.     In  any  event, 


282  APPENDIX. 

Mr.  Chairman,  whatever  we  may  do,  or  whatever  we 
may  leave  undone  on  this  whole  financial  question, 
let  us  not  delude  ourselves  with  the  belief  that  we  can 
escape  the  specie  standard.  It  rules  us  to-day,  and 
has  ruled  us  throughout  the  whole  legal-tender  pe- 
riod, just  as  absolutely  as  though  we  were  paying  and 
receiving  coin  daily.  Our  work,  our  fabrics,  our 
commodities,  are  all  measured  by  it,  and  so  long  as  we 
cling  to  irredeemable  paper  we  have  all  the  burdens 
and  disadvantages  of  the  gold  standard,  with  none  of  its 
aids,  and  gains,  and  profits.  "The  thing  which  hath 
been  is  the  thing  which  shall  be."  The  great  law-giver 
of  antiquity  records  in  the  very  opening  chapters  of 
Genesis  that  "  the  gold  of  the  land  of  Havilah  is  good." 
And  with  another  precious  metal  it  has  maintained  its 
rank  to  this  day.  No  nation  has  ever  succeeded  in  es- 
tablishing any  other  standard  of  value  ;  no  nation  has 
ever  made  this  experiment  except  at  great  cost  and  sor- 
row ;  and  the  advocates  of  irredeemable  money  to-day 
are  but  asking  us  to  travel  the  worn  and  weary  road 
travelled  so  many  times  before — a  road  that  has  always 
ended  in  disaster,  and  sometimes  in  disgrace. 


APPENDIX  C. 

HON.  WILLIAM    WALTER    PHELPS    ON    THE 
CHARGES   AGAINST   MR.   BLAINE. 

To  THE  Editor  of  the  Evening  Post  : 

On  April  7th  you  made  formal  charges  against  James 
G.  Blaine.  They  are  the  same  which  you  made  eight 
years  ago,  and  which  were,  I  think,  at  that  time  satis- 
factorily answered  ;  lest  others,  however,  may  like  your- 
self have  forgotten  everything  except  the  misstate- 
ments, you  must  permit  me  to  remind  you  of  the  facts. 
I  think  I  may  claim  some  qualifications  for  the  task. 
I  have  long  had  a  close  personal  intimacy  with  Mr. 
Blaine,  and  during  many  years  have  had  that  knowledge 
and  care  of  his  moneyed  interests  which  men  absorbed 
in  public  affairs  are  not  inapt  to  devolve  upon  friends 
who  have  had  financial  training  and  experience.  I  do  not 
see  how  one  man  can  know  another  better  than  I  know 
Mr.  Blaine,  and  he  has  to-day  my  full  confidence  and 
warm  regard.  I  am  myself  somewhat  known  in  the  city 
of  New  York,  and  think  I  have  some  personal  rank  with 
you  and  your  readers.  Am  I  claiming  too  much  in 
claiming  that  there   is    not  one  among  you  who  would 


284  APPENDIX. 

regard  me  as  capable  of  an  attempt  to  mislead  the  pub- 
lic in  any  way  ?  With  this  personal  allusion — pardon- 
able,'-if  not  demanded,  under  the  circumstances — I  pro- 
ceed to  consider  your  charges. 

The  first  charge  is  really  the  one  upon  which  all  the 
others  hinge.  I  give  it  in  full  and  in  your  own  language, 
only  italicizing  some  of  your  words,  in  order  that  my 
answer  may  be  clearer.     You  say  : 

In  the  spring  session  of  Congress  in  1869,  a  bill  was 
brought  before  the  House  of  Representatives  which 
sought  to  renew  a  land  grant  to  the  Little  Rock  & 
Fort  Smith  Railroad,  of  Arkansas,  in  which  so?ne  of  Mr. 
Blaine's  friends  were  interested  ;  that  an  attempt  to  defeat 
it  by  an  amendment  was  made,  and  the  promoters  were 
in  despair  ;  that  at  this  juncture  Mr.  Blaine,  being  then 
Speaker  of  the  House,  sent  a  message  to  General  Logan, 
to  make  the  point  of  order  that  the  am.endment  was 
not  germane  to  the  purposes  of  the  bill  ;  that  this  point 
of  order  was  accordingly  raised  and  promptly  sustained 
by  Mr.  Blaine  as  Speaker,  and  the  bill  was  in  this  manner 
saved  ;  that  Mr.  Blaine  wrote  at  once  to  the  promoters^  calling 
attention  to  the  service  he  had  rendered  them^  and  finally^  after 
some  negotiations,  secured  from  them,  as  their  reward  for  it, 
his  appointment  as  selling  agent  of  the  bonds  of  the 
road  on  commission  in  Maine,  and  received  a  number 
of  such  bonds  as  his  percentage  ;  that  the  leading  fea- 
ture of  this  transaction  appeared  in  two  letters  of  his 
afterward  made  public,  dated,  respectively,  June  29  and 
October  4,  1869. 


APPENDIX.  285 

Your  error  is  in  the  facts.  Mr.  Blaine's  friends  were 
not  connected  with  the  Fort  Smith  &  Little  Rock  Road 
at  the  time  of  the  passage  of  this  bill.  Those  to  whom 
you  refer  as  his  friends  are  Caldwell  and  Fisher.  The 
bill  passed  in  April,  1869.  In  April,  1869,  Mr.  Blaine  did 
not  know  that  there  was  any  such  man  as  Caldwell  ;  and 
Fisher,  who  was  Mr.  Blaine's  friend,  did  not  know  that 
there  was  any  such  enterprise  as  the  Little  Rock  Rail- 
road in  the  world.  The  evidence  of  these  assertions 
was  before  Congress,  was  uncontradicted,  and  is 
within  your  reach.  On  the  29th  of  June,  nearly  eighty 
days  after  Congress  had  adjourned,  Mr.  Blaine,  from 
his  home  in  Maine,  wrote  to  Fisher  and  spoke  of 
Fisher's  "offer  to  admit  him  to  a  share  in  the  new  rail- 
road enterprise."  Fisher  had  introduced  the  subject  to 
Mr.  Blaine  for  the  first  time  a  week  before  at  the  great 
music  festival  at  Boston.  He  told  him  there  that  Mr. 
Caldwell,  whom  Mr.  Blaine  had  not  yet  seen,  had  now 
obtained  control  of  the  enterprise  and  had  invited 
Fisher  to  join  him.  At  that  time  Fisher  was  a  sugar 
refiner  of  considerable  wealth  in  Boston,  had  been  a 
partner  of  Mr.  Blaine's  brother-in-law,  and  through  him 
had  made  Mr.  Blaine's  acquaintance.  The  offer  Mr. 
Blaine  refers  to  in  his  letter  was  Fisher's  offer  to  induce 
Caldwell,  if  he  could,  to  let  Mr.  Blaine  have  a  share  in 
the  bed-rock  of  the  enterprise.  Mr.  Fisher  failed  to  do 
this,  and  Mr.  Blaine  never  secured  any  interest  in  the 
building  of  the  Fort  Smith  &  Little  Rock  Railroad.  What 
interest,  then,  did  Mr.  Blaine  obtain  ?     An  interest  in  the 


286  APPEXDIX. 

securities  of  the  company.  How  ?  By  purchase,  on 
the  same  terms  as  they  were  sold  to  all  applicants  on 
the  Boston  market ;  sold  to  Josiah  Bardwell,  to  Elisha 
Atkins,  and  to  other  reputable  merchants.  He  negotiated 
for  a  block  of  the  securities,  which  were  divided,  as  is 
usual  in  such  enterprises,  into  three  kinds,  first  mort- 
gage bonds,  second  mortgage  bonds,  and  stock.  The 
price,  I  think,  was  three  for  one.  That  is,  the  purchaser 
got  first  mortgage  bonds  for  his  money,  and  an  equal 
amount  of  second  mortgage  or  land-grant  bonds,  and  of 
stock  thrown  in  as  a  basis  of  possible  profit.  I  may  be 
mistaken  as  to  the  price,  but  I  think  not.  I  went  my- 
self at  this  time  into  several  adventures  of  the  kind  at 
that  ratio,  and  have  always  understood  that  Senator 
Grimes  and  his  friends  got  their  interests  in  the  Burling- 
ton &  Missouri  Road,  a  branch  of  the  Union  Pacific, 
on  the  basis  of  three  for  one.  It  was  the  common  ratio 
at  that  era  of  speculation. 

Mr.  Blaine  conceived  the  idea  that  he  might  retain 
the  second  mortgage  bonds  as  profit,  and  sell  the  first 
mortgage  bonds  with  the  stock  as  a  bonus.  He  believed 
the  first  mortgage  bonds  were  good,  and  he  disposed  of 
them  to  his  neighbors  in  that  faith,  and  with  the  deter- 
mination to  shield  them  from  loss  in  case  of  disaster. 
Disaster  came.  The  enterprise,  like  so  many  others  of 
the  kind,  proved  a  disappointment,  and  the  bonds  de- 
preciated. Mr.  Blaine  redeemed  them  all.  In  one  or 
two  cases  only  had  he  given  a  guarantee.  In  none 
others  was  there  any  legal  obligation,  but  he  recognized 


APPENDIX.  287 

a  moral  claim,  and  he  obeyed  it  to  his  own  pecuniary 
loss.  I  cannot  but  feel  that  the  purchasers  of  these 
bonds  would  have  fared  worse  had  they  been  compelled 
to  look  to  many  of  those  who  have  sought  to  give  an 
odious  interpretation  to  Mr.  Blaine's  honorable  con- 
duct. The  arrangement  for  the  purchase  of  the  block 
of  securities  was  made  in  June  or  July.  The  sales  of 
the  first  mortgage  bonds  out  of  the  block  were  con- 
tinued through  the  months  of  July,  August,  and  Sep- 
tember, 1869.  The  transaction  was  nearly  closed  when, 
in  the  letter  of  October  4th,  Mr.  Blaine  wrote  to  Mr. 
Fisher  and  told  him  the  parliamentary  story  of  the  9th 
of  April.  Mr.  Blaine  had  come  across  it  while  looking 
over  the  Congressional  Globe,  with  a  natural  curiosity 
to  see  what  had  been  his  decisions  during  the  first  six 
weeks  of  his  Speakership,  and  he  wrote  of  it  to  Fisher 
as  an  item  in  the  legislative  history  of  the  enterprise 
into  which  they  had  both  subsequently  entered.  It  con- 
cerned a  bill  to  renew  a  land  grant,  made  long  before 
the  war,  to  the  Little  Rock  &  Fort  Smith  Railroad. 
The  bill  had  passed  the  Senate  without  opposition,  and 
there  was  no  objecting  to  it  in  the  House  ;  but  the  ad- 
vocates of  the  Memphis,  El  Paso,  &  Pacific  Railroad 
bill  sought  to  attach  their  bill  to  it  as  an  amendment. 
This  El  Paso  bill  was  known  at  the  time  as  General 
Fremont's  scheme,  and  had  been  urged  upon  Congress 
before.  It  was  unpopular,  and  was  openly  opposed  by 
General  Logan.  Wedded  to  the  Little  Rock  bill  it 
would  gain  strength,  but  the  Little  Rock  bill  would  lose 


288  APPENDIX. 

Strength,  and  a  just  measure,  universally  approved, 
would  be  killed  in  the  effort  to  pull  through  with  it  this 
objectionable  measure  which  was  universally  disap- 
proved. Mr.  Blaine's  message  to  Fisher  will  tell  the 
rest  of  the  story.  He  wrote  :  *'  In  this  dilemma  Roots, 
the  Arkansas  member,  came  to  me  to  know  what  on 
earth  he  could  do  under  the  rules,  for  he  said  it  was 
vital  to  his  constituents  that  the  bill  should  pass.  I 
told  him  that  the  amendment  was  entirely  out  of  order, 
because  not  germain  ;  but  he  had  not  sufficient  confi- 
dence in  his  knowledge  of  the  rules  to  make  the  point. 
But  he  said  General  Logan  was  opposed  to  the  Fre- 
mont scheme  and  would  probably  make  it.  I  sent  my 
page  to  General  Logan,  with  the  suggestion,  and  he  at 
once  made  the  point.  I  could  not  do  otherwise  than 
sustain  it,  and  so  the  bill  was  freed  from  the  mischiev- 
ous amendment  and  at  once  passed  without  objection." 
Mr.  Blaine  added  these  very  significant  words  :  ^'  At  that 
time  I  had  never  seefi  Mr.  Caldwell^  but  you  can  tell  hi7n  that 
without  knowing  it  I  did  him  a  great  favor.  ...  I 
thought  the  point  would  interest  both  you  and  Mr. 
Caldwell,  though  occurring  before  either  of  you  engaged  in 
the  enterprise r 

This  seems,  Mr.  Editor,  to  dispose  of  your  first  charge. 
The  bill  was  a  just  one,  and  Mr.  Blame's  friends  had 
no  interest  in  it  when  it  passed  the  house.  Eighty  days 
after  the  House  adjourned  Mr.  Blaine  asked  his 
friends,  who  had  in  the  meantime  taken  hold  of  the 
enterprise,  and  had  offered  him  some  interest,  to  let  him 


APPENDIX.  289 

in  as  a  partner.  They  refused  ;  they  did,  however,  sell 
him  a  block  of  securities  on  the  same  terms  they  sold 
them  to  others,  and  it  proved  an  unfortunate  purchase, 
for  he  sold  them  out  among  his  friends  believing  them 
valuable,  and  took  them  all  back  when  they  depreciated 
in  value.  The  letter  of  Mr.  Blaine,  written  long  after 
the  transaction,  is  a  complete  vindication.  To  give  it  a 
semblance  of  evil  you  assign  it  a  date  six  months  before 
it  was  actually  written.  The  late  Judge  Black,  after  an 
investigation  of  the  whole  subject,  declared  in  his  char- 
acteristic style  "that  Mr.  Blaine's  letter  proved  that  the 
charge  (which  you  repeat  against  him)  was  not  only 
untrue  but  impossible,  and  would  continue  so  to  prove 
until  the  Gregorian  calendar  could  be  turned  around 
and  October  made  to  precede  April  in  the  stately  pro- 
cession of  the  year." 

Your  second  charge  consists  of  two  parts.  The  first 
part  is  that  "  Mr.  Blaine  wrongfully  asserted  that  the 
Little  Rock  &  Fort  Smith  road  derives  its  life  and 
value  and  franchise  wholly  from  the  State  of  Arkansas, 
whereas  the  evidence  subsequently  taken  disclosed  the 
fact  that  the  road  derives  the  value  on  which  these 
bonds  were  based  from  the  act  of  Congress  of  which 
Mr.  Blaine  secured  the  passage."  It  will  be  found  that 
you  have  inaccurately  quoted  Mr.  Blaine's  language, 
or  rather  that  you  put  language  into  his  mouth  that  he 
never  used.  What  Mr.  Blaine  did  say  was,  "the  Rail- 
road Company  derived  its  life,  value,  and  franchises 
from  the  State  of  Arkansas."  And  Mr.  Blaine  stated  the 
19 


290  APPEXDTX. 

exact  truth.  What  are  the  facts  ?  More  than  thirty  years 
ago  Congress  granted  to  the  States  of  Missouri  and  Ar- 
kansas a  certain  quantity  of  public  lands  to  aid  in  the 
construction  of  certain  lines  of  railway.  The  franchises 
which  should  be  granted  to  the  companies  which  should 
build  the  road  were  expressly  left  by  Congress  to  the 
Legislatures  of  the  States.  Mr.  Blaine  spoke  therefore 
with  absolute  precision  of  language,  as  he  generally 
does,  when  he  stated  "  that  the  Little  Rock  Railway 
Company  derived  its  life,  value,  and  franchises."  Just  as 
the  Illinois  Central  Railroad  Company  derives  its  life, 
value,  and  franchises  from  the  State  of  Illinois,  though 
enriched  by  a  land-grant  from  the  United  States,  just  as 
the  Little  Rock  road  was. 

The  second  part  of  your  second  charge  is  that  Mr. 
Blaine  did  not  speak  truthfully  when  he  said  that  he 
"  bought  the  bonds  at  precisely  the  same  rates  as 
others  paid."  There  is  no  evidence  anywhere  to  sus- 
tain this  accusation.  I  have  already  said  that  any  per- 
son could  negotiate  for  them  on  the  one-for-three  basis, 
just  as  Mr.  Blaine  did,  and  many  availed  themselves 
of  the  opportunity.  The  price  paid  was  not  in  the 
least  affected  by  the  fact  that  Mr.  Blaine  had  already  ar- 
ranged to  sell  the  securities  at  a  higher  price  than  he 
paid  for  them.  He  did  this  with  the  determination, 
honestly  maintained,  that  he  would  make  good  any  loss 
that  might  accrue  to  the  purchasers.  These  sales  did 
not  change  the  price  paid  to  Fisher,  and  the  proof  that 
they  did  not  is  the  fact  that  Mr.  Blaine  paid  it  to  him 


APPE.yDJx.  291 

in  full.  You  speak  in  this  connection  of  Mr.  Bond 
being  appointed  an  agent  to  sell  the  bonds  of  the  com- 
pany. No  such  appointment  was  ever  made  and  no  evi- 
dence suggests  it.  Mr.  Blaine  negotiated  for  his  secur- 
ities at  a  given  price,  which  was  paid  in  full  to  Mr. 
Fisher. 

Your  third  formal  charge  relates  to  an  alleged 
connection  of  Mr.  Blaine  with  a  share  in  the  Northern 
Pacific  enterprise.  You  charge  this  in  the  face  of  the 
fact  that  in  Mr.  Blaine's  letter,  in  which  you  find  the 
subject  referred  to,  was  his  distinct  asseveration  that  he 
**  could  not  himself  touch  the  share."  Have  you  seen 
any  evidence  that  he  did  ?  I  have  not.  The  Northern 
Pacific  Railroad  Company  has  been  organized  and  reor- 
ganized, and  recently  reorganized  a  second  time.  Its 
records  of  ownership  and  interest  have  passed  under  the 
official  inspection  of  at  least  a  hundred  men,  many  of 
whom  are  political  enemies,  and  some  of  whom  are  to 
my  knowledge  personal  enemies  of  Mr.  Blaine,  and  there 
has  never  been  a  suggestion  or  hint  from  any  of  these 
that  in  any  form  whatever  Mr.  Blaine  had  the  remotest 
interest  in  the  Northern  Pacific  Company.  If  one  of 
your  associates  has  such  evidence  it  is  right  that  he 
should  produce  it. 

Your  fifth  charge  is  that,  after  Mr.  Blaine  got  posses- 
sion of  the  so-called  Mulligan  letters,  "he  subsequently 
read  such  of  them  as  he  pleased  to  the  House  in  aid  of 
his  vindication."  The  answer  is  that  Mulligan's  memo- 
randum of  the  letters  in  which  he  had  numbered  and 


292  APPEXDIX. 

indexed  each  one  of  them  was  produced,  and  number 
and  index  corresponded  exactly  with  the  letters  read. 
This  was  fully  demonstrated  on  the  floor  of  the  House 
and  is  a  part  of  its  records. 

You  repeat  the  charge  that  Mr.  Blaine  received  a  cer- 
tain sum  from  the  Union  Pacific  Railroad  Company  for 
seventy-five  bonds  of  the  Little  Rock  road.  You  say 
this  without  a  particle  of  proof.  You  say  it  against 
the  sworn  denial  of  Thomas  A.  Scott,  who  was  the  party 
alleged  to  have  made  the  negotiation.  You  say  it 
against  the  written  denial  of  Mr.  Sidney  Dillon,  presi- 
dent of  the  company  ;  against  the  written  denial  of  E. 
H.  Rollins,  treasurer  of  the  company  ;  against  the  writ- 
ten denial  of  Morton,  Bliss  &  Co.,  through  whose  bank- 
ing-house the  transaction  was  said  to  have  been  made. 
Against  this  mountain  of  direct  and  positive  testimony 
from  every  one  who  could  by  any  possibility  have  per- 
sonal knowledge  of  the  alleged  transaction,  you  op- 
pose nothing  but  hearsay  and  suspicion  as  the  ground 
of  a  serious  charge  against  the  character  of  a  man  long 
eminent  in  public  life.  The  courtesy  which  admits 
me  to  your  columns  prevents  my  saying  what  I  think  of 
your  recklessness  in  this  matter. 

Your  fifth  charge  against  Mr.  Blaine's  policy  as  an  ex- 
ecutive officer,  and  your  last  charge,  is  that  of  his  pack- 
ing convex:  tions  in  his  ow^n  favor.  I  do  not  desire  to 
dwell  upon  either.  This  is  not  the  place  to  review  his 
foreign  policy,  to  which  you  refer,  and  I  am  content  to 
remark  that,  however  much  some  Eastern  journals  may 


APPENDIX.  293 

criticise  it,  it  is  popular  with  a  large  majority  of  the 
American  people.  It  is  simply  an  American  polic}', 
looking  to  the  extension  of  our  commerce  among  the 
nations  of  this  continent,  and  steadily  refraining  from 
European  complications  of  every  character. 

The  charge  of  packing  conventions  needs  no  answer 
This  is  the  third  presidential  campaign  in  which  Mr. 
Blaine  has  been  the  choice  of  a  large  proportion  of  the 
Republican  party.  In  each  of  them  he  has  had  the  act- 
ive opposition  of  the  National  Administration,  with  the 
use  of  its  patronage  against  him.  Whatever  promi- 
nence he  has  enjoyed  has  been  conferred  by  the  people. 
He  has  no  means  not  open  to  every  citizen  of  influenc- 
ing the  public  mind.  No  campaign  in  his  favor  origi- 
nated elsewhere  than  among  the  people.  He  never 
sought  office.  He  never  held  a  position  to  which  he 
was  not  nominated  by  the  unanimous  voice  of  his  party. 
He  has  not  sought  the  Presidency.  Circumstances 
made  him  a  candidate  in  1876,  almost  before  he  was 
aware  of  it.  In  1880  he  did  not  wish  to  enter  the  canvass. 
I  was  one  of  a  small  party  of  intimate  friends  who,  at  a 
long  conference  in  February,  1880,  persuaded  him  that  it 
was  his  duty.  He  has  done  nothing  to  make  himself  a 
candidate  this  year.  He  has  asked  no  man's  support. 
He  has  written  no  letters,  held  no  conversation,  taken 
no  steps  looking  to  his  candidacy.  He  has  never  said 
to  his  most  intimate  friends  that  he  expected  or  desired 
the  nomination. 

If,   upon   a  review   of   the   whole  case,    you   should 


294  APPENDIX. 

charge  that  it  would  have  been  better  and  wiser  for  Mr. 
Blaine  to  have  refrained  from  making  any  investment 
in  a  railroad  that  had  directly  or  indirectly  received  aid 
from  the  legislation  of  Congress,  I  should  be  ready  to 
agree  with  you,  not  because  the  thing  was  necessarily 
wrong  in  itself,  but  because  it  is  easy  for  such  matters  to 
be  so  represented  as  to  appear  wrong.  But  why  should 
Mr.  Blaine  be  selected  for  special  reprobation  and  criti- 
cism when  so  many  other  Senators  and  Representatives 
have  been  similarly  situated.  I  know  of  my  own  knowl- 
edge that  Governor  Morgan,  Mr.  Samuel  Hooper,  Sen- 
ator Grimes,  and  many  of  my  friends  while  in  Congress 
acquired  and  held  interests  in  such  enterprises,  and 
neither  you  nor  I,  nor  the  people,  suspected  it  to  be 
wrong,  or  that  it  gave  them  any  advantage  over  the  in- 
vestors. Why  entertain  and  publish  that  suspicion 
against  Mr.  Blaine  alone?  When  I  sat  as  a  Delegate  at 
Large  in  the  last  National  Convention,  Senator  Edmunds 
and  Senator  Windom  were  both  candidates  for  the 
Presidency,  and  I  should  gladly  have  supported  either. 
Senator  Edmunds  was  understood  to  have  a  block  of 
Burlington  &  Missouri  securities,  and  Senator  Win- 
dom had  not  only  a  block  in  the  securities  of  the  North- 
ern Pacific  Company,  but  was  also  one  of  its  directors. 
Yet  you  find  no  fault  with  these  gentlemen.  Nor  would 
you  and  I  differ  in  giving  the  highest  rank  to  Sen- 
ator Grimes  ;  but  both  he  and  Senator  Edmunds  ac- 
quired their  interests  in  the  Burlington  &  Missouri 
road,  when  they  were  in  the  Senate.     They  both  sup- 


APPEXDIX.  295 

ported  the  bill  to  restore  the  land  grant  to  their  road.  It 
was  passed  on  the  same  day  with  the  Little  Rock  bill. 
Both  measures  were  just,  and  both  were  passed  in  the 
House  and  Senate  without  a  dissenting  vote.  Why 
must  we  suspect  that  Mr.  Blaine  had  a  secret  and  cor- 
rupt motive,  and  that  other  members  and  senators  had 
none  ? 

Let  me  add  a  circumstance  which  seems  to  me  to  be 
not  only  significant  but  conclusive  of  Mr.  Blaine's  con- 
scious innocence  in  this  Fort  Smith  transaction.  He 
voluntarily  made  himself  a  party  of  record  in  a  suit 
against  the  Fort  Smith  &  Little  Rock  Railway  Com- 
pany in  the  United  States  Circuit  Court,  which  involved 
the  nature  and  sources  of  his  ownership  in  the  property. 
This  was  before  he  was  named  for  the  Presidency.  If 
he  had  obtained  this  ownership  dishonorably  would  he 
have  courted  this  publicity  ? 

I  have  thus  ventured,  Mr.  Editor,  to  make  answer  to 
the  charges  you  have  brought  against  Mr.  Blaine. 
There  are  other  charges  equally  baseless  which  I  have 
read,  but  in  other  papers,  so  that  I  may  not  claim  your 
space  to  deny  or  answer  them.  I  give  two  examples. 
Mr.  Blaine  is  represented  as  the  possessor  of  millions, 
while  I  personally  know  that  he  was  never  the  posses- 
sor of  the  half  of  one  million.  He  was  represented  as 
living  for  the  past  ten  years  in  palatial  grandeur  in 
Washington.  He  sold  that  palatial  mansion,  with  all  its 
furniture,  to  Mr.  Stevens,  for  $24,500,  and  got  all  that 
it  was  worth.     But  you   are  responsible  only  for  such 


296  APPEXDIX. 

charges  as  you  have  made,  and  I  have,  therefore,  made 
answer  to  them  authoritatively  over  my  own  name,  and 
I  challenge  denial  of  any  substantial  fact  I  have  stated. 
Your  attacks  are  not  on  Mr.  Blaine  alone — they  are  on 
his  friends  as  well,  and  these  are  certainly  a  larger  and 
more  devoted  body  of  supporters  than  can  be  claimed 
by  any  other  man  in  public  life.  It  seems  to  me,  as  I 
recall  those  in  every  station  who  are  proud  to  be  num- 
bered among  them,  that  I  recognize  many  of  the  ablest, 
truest,  and  most  honorable  of  our  countrymen. 

William  Walter  Phelps. 
Washington,  April  21,  1884. 


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